Chapter 122: Discussions
Chapter 122: Discussions
Uhtred could clearly sense that the man wasn’t actively releasing his cosmic essence in a cheap show of bravado or intimidation.
In fact, there was absolutely no essence leaking out of his body except for the natural leak from the environment. He simply stood completely still, watching Uhtred’s approach with a pair of quiet, incredibly steady dark eyes.
A large, thick mustache sat firmly on his upper lip, giving him the appearance of a rugged, old-world gentleman. If Uhtred had to estimate his age based on his features, he would place the man somewhere in his early forties.
His face was heavily tanned and weathered, perfectly aligning with Amanda’s story about their sector being located out in open ocean, though Uhtred knew two weeks of sun exposure was technically too short to produce that deep of a tan. The man had likely spent his pre-integration life working an outdoor trade that regularly exposed him to the elements.
The moment Uhtred reached the crest of the slope, Amanda and the young man instinctively stepped aside, clearing a direct path for him to walk straight up to their leader.
The two powerhouses stood face to face, staring at each other in silence for several long seconds. They were conducting a silent, mutual calculation, reading each other’s postures, before Black Sun finally broke the silence, his voice surprisingly deep and gravelly:
"You look like someone just dumped a whole vat of acid on you."
Uhtred raised a brow at the blunt opening line. A light, lazy smile played on his lips as he held back a genuine chuckle.
"Actually," Uhtred replied smoothly, "You’re not too far off."
Black Sun raised a brow in turn, as if surprised by the casual, honest response from Uhtred.
"Mateo De La Cruz," he said after a second, extending no hand for a handshake. "On the leaderboard, you may know me as Black Sun. Come with me. We have a lot of things to discuss, Uhtred."
He immediately turned on his heel and beckoned for Uhtred to follow him over the crest, wasting no time on useless social pleasantries or formal talk. And Uhtred was very thankful for the directness. At least he wouldn’t have to play a game of who had the bigger balls.
From this first impression alone, Mateo appeared to be an exceptionally straightforward, practical person, but Uhtred could only hope that continued through the rest of their conversation.
He fell into step beside Mateo, crossing over the slight elevation of the hill, and the moment he did, the camp opened up before his eyes, spreading across the vast plains below.
Despite his usual unbothered demeanor, Uhtred’s eyes widened slightly in genuine surprise at the sight.
"Whoa," he murmured, scanning the many people below. "You’ve managed to establish an incredibly large camp already, Mateo."
Mateo De La Cruz only let out a low grunt in response, his eyes casting a cold glance across the hundreds of bonfires illuminating the darkness.
By a rough estimate, Uhtred calculated that there were easily over two thousand human ascenders within this camp, which was a completely crazy number to think of, considering that they had only arrived here earlier this afternoon.
"It is a camp born out of necessity, not goodwill," Mateo responded, his voice flat. "I do not care for many of the people here, but because of the trial I must keep them alive."
"What do you mean?" Uhtred frowned.
Mateo remained silent, not getting the chance to reply, as they had finally reached the entrance of the camp.
The moment they entered, the ambient noise of the crowd hit them. Hundreds of voices murmured in unison as curious ascenders turned their heads, wondering who the weird-looking, acid-scarred young man walking in stride with their leader was.
The few of them who had taken up the bounty on Uhtred’s head immediately noticed he was the one. And within less than a minute, word began to spread through the crowd like wildfire.
People from deeper gatherings within the camp began to rush toward their location, trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary number one human.
As Uhtred walked through the crowd, a part of him couldn’t help but lament that he hadn’t taken a single moment to clean up his appearance before entering such a populated zone.
Remembering Mateo’s very first comment, he knew the stomach acid of the Dune Strider serpent must have turned his exterior into an absolute horror show.
He could feel the irregular, bare patches of skin on his scalp where his hair had been entirely eaten away by the chemical soup.
Damn, at the very least I have to find some time to trim down my hair.
Even though he was going to miss his hair for the meantime, at least, a clean buzz cut would stop him from looking like a crazed mutant with random patches of hair and severe acid burns covering his head.
He kept his gaze locked straight ahead, completely ignoring the loud whispers, pointing fingers, and hushed murmurs rising from the surrounding crowd.
Mateo finally reached a tent at the centre of the camp. Right in front of it, three hugely built men stood, their gazes immediately locking on to Uhtred in something like confrontation.
Uhtred glanced at their levels with his inspect skill and noticed they were all level 10s. At their level, they surely had access to the global ranking panel, and they knew exactly who he was. Yet their eyes were still defiant, almost as if they were ready to go down in battle if Uhtred were to do anything here.
His men are very loyal, Uhtred noted internally, approving of their discipline, just as Mateo pulled back the heavy leather entryway flap and stepped inside.
Uhtred entered in tandem, closing the flaps behind him, instantly cutting off the noise of the external crowd. He stood still and took in the interior carefully.
A luminescent orb, surely gotten from the Multiversal Store beforehand, was placed on a small table and in several other parts of the tent, lighting up the entire interior.
A small fire also burned at the center of the room, heating up something in a stone pan. That was a commonality throughout the entire room. Most of the furniture, including the table, was made mostly from stones that had been shaped carefully by people with earth attunements, perhaps even Black Sun himself, because Uhtred still didn’t know what affinities the man had.
However, as his eyes scanned the tent, he noticed one more thing about the man: Mateo clearly liked firearms.
Case in point: right there on the table was a makeshift gun, something that shouldn’t even be possible in this new earth where everything of the old world has been destroyed entirely.
Mateo had clearly manufactured this piece manually, but Uhtred found himself wondering if it actually worked at all.
Normal guns required far too many materials that were impossible to source, especially just two weeks into the integration. And even manufacturing a basic gunpowder firearm was out of the question this early on.
Unless Mateo had found a special way to use cosmic essence as a propellant, the weapon was most likely just a showpiece, not a functional firearm.
"That’s the real thing," Mateo suddenly said, as if he could read Uhtred’s mind. He wasn’t even facing him at all. He had his back turned as he poured water from a stone jug into two stone cups.
He grabbed both cups, turned around, and offered one to Uhtred while using his chin to point toward the empty stone stool on the opposite side of the desk.
Uhtred calmly accepted the cup of water but made no move to drink from it, he simply placed it on the table and sat down comfortably on the stone stool.
The two men faced each other across the desk, a brief, heavy silence reigning over the tent before Uhtred finally decided to push the conversation forward.
"You said something earlier... that this camp was born out of necessity, not goodwill. What exactly do you mean by that?"