Chapter 927: Monster Gecko (1/2)
After some time, he had appeared in a narrow cave, almost dark thanks to its narrowness. There wasn't any disturbance in the air as Krune's figure had appeared in the place. For a moment, he was dizzy, having been teleported as a mortal.
It took him a good minute before he could recover from the after-effects. He immediately smelled something pungent, sniffing around as he realized the source was himself.
”Damn, I never thought I would experience such a day.” Krune frowned, only now taking a glance at his appearance. Blistered skin which had a new layer forming underneath. Patches of skin that were falling off, bruises all over the body, gashes of varying degrees of severity, the tooth mark on his thigh that almost revealed his bone, and finally, his teeth, yellow from the lack of hygiene.
He hadn't even thought about something like that, for a moment turning silent before chuckling as he muttered, ”I hope Feifei doesn't see me like this. She would probably…”
He sighed after thinking about it. ”It isn't of my concern for the time being. Let me focus on the task before me now and worry about the rest later.”
Shaking his head, Krune exhaled with his mouth, sensing the sounds that were reflected from the walls of the cave, allowing him to perceive its distance from him. He then uttered a word gently, being able to scout a bit farther outside the cave. Beyond that, it seemed like there was too big of an open area that the strength in the sound he uttered had completely vanished.
With that, he wasn't able to obtain any feedback from it. Krune carefully walked forward, nearing the cave's entrance as he peeked out, not being able to notice any monsters in his vicinity. He was careful about the terminology that had been used in the tablet.
It specified the species on this Primary Landmass as monsters and not demon beasts or fishes. There ought to be a significant difference. So, Krune didn't dare to be careless. He only had one life now.
He sighed, exhaling all the air in his lungs as he muttered inwardly, ”It seems I have become careless regarding my life and death after obtaining my Spiritual Incarnation. I guess this is a good measure against that. I probably won't take it for granted again.”
As Krune looked around, he was shocked. The layout of the Primary Landmass was rather simple and direct. There was a massive piece of land that was shaped like a bowl. Considering its shape with respect to its size, the walls were akin to a mountain range.
After all, just a short glance told him that the walls spanned at least a kilometer in height. To a mortal like him, it was a considerable distance. As for the mountain range, it enclosed the entire landmass like a circular dome.
Its tip touched the ocean above, making it seem like a lid that covered the Primary Landmass. Krune also noticed vicious fishes with gigantic jaws swimming around in the waters. Some of them were even eyeing him, considering he was just 20 meters away from the ocean surface above.
Thanks to the mountain range, the water from the ocean he was in couldn't enter this Primary Landmass, creating a terrain of land within. That was how this habitat had been established to exist in this Double Ocean layer where the layer of air only spanned a height of three meters.
As the radius of the Primary Landmass spanned 50 kilometers. It was way too big of a place that he could scout using his Sonic Radar. That was because he didn't have a reflective surface that could reflect the transmitted sound to himself. Even though sound traveled as a wave and diverged through its path, it also caused the energy in the transmitted wave to be expended too quickly, causing the sound wave to vanish.
So, unless he hollered, Krune didn't have any chance of receiving any data in this place. Though, in fear that he would alert the monsters of the place through this action, he refrained from doing so.
Thinking of this, he looked around, making use of the daylight to scout through his surroundings. There were steep regions all over. At the bottom of the place, there seemed to be a flatland or something similar.
But as the entire region was covered by a thin layer of fog, Krune wasn't sure about it. All he could see was a white patch of cloud covering their entire bottom, like rice covering the bottom of a cup.
As for the mountain range, it was steep, while the protruding rocks seemed fragile as if they might fall off if he misstepped. Currently, there was a small path—enough for a man to walk—50 meters below him. Krune noticed the path trailed towards the bottom with winding zigzags.
It did seem like a path hardly used by the monsters in the place, apparent by the smooth layer of moss growing on it without any hindrances. So, even if they had used the path once, it had been abandoned for too long.
”Alright.” Krune checked the sides of his hip, touching the two Whale Tooth Daggers. He then felt around through the cloth wrung around his hip, touching the vial with the two Water Essence pills. They were something that would save his life.
He then tightened the sash of the Whale Tooth Sword hung on his back, ensuring it wouldn't fall off when he climbed down. With that, he held the parchment that was his return ticket. He had to tear it off to be teleported back to the Checkpoint Turtle.
This was his only gateway to leave the place voluntarily. Otherwise, he would have to survive in the place for a year until his ticket expired and get forcefully transported back to the Checkpoint Turtle. So, he had to secure it carefully.