Chapter 127: Danger [200 PS Bonus - ]
Chapter 127: Danger [200 PS Bonus Chapter]
No matter where he was, even if he was within his own territory back on the main continent, he would periodically spread out his senses across the surrounding just to ensure everything within his vicinity was accounted for.
It allowed him to instantly react to any hidden threat as quickly as possible.
His scan picked up nothing unusual from the surroundings, save for two familiar Level 10 figures approaching the entrance carrying heavy stone trays.
The men stepped into the tent, silently setting down the trays of food before quickly nodding their heads and exiting without speaking a single word.
Uhtred looked down at the meal. It was a massive portion of freshly roasted game, some sort of heavy beast meat that he didn’t recognize, alongside a large stone jug of water.
He didn’t care to guess what kind of creature the meat had belonged to, after two weeks of integration, an ascender like him couldn’t care to be picky about what he ate.
He gripped a portion of the meat and began to eat, savoring the rich, heavy flavors. He downed the entire jug of water along with it, thoroughly enjoying the simple comfort of a full meal.
He was well aware that at his current Level 23 cultivation stage, his biological need for food was rapidly decreasing.
His enhanced cells were incredibly efficient. He could easily go more than a full week without swallowing a single drop of food or water, and his body would still continue to operate normally, so long as there was essence.
In fact, he reckoned that the further he climbed up the path of ascension, the less he would need food for sustenance. Eventually, it would reach a point where eating became something he did purely for personal enjoyment or to splurge.
With his stomach full, Uhtred finally allowed his muscles to relax slightly for the first time since the trial had begun.
He reached up, his fingers brushing against the highly irregular, bare patches on the side of his head where the Dune Strider serpent’s stomach acid had dissolved his hair, and he couldn’t help but grimace slightly at the texture.
Reaching into his spatial storage, he pulled out a small, sharp blade and immediately went to work, carefully trimming the rest of his hair down to a uniform buzz cut.
Just as he finished clearing away the loose strands from his shoulders, the tent flap pulled back, and Mateo walked back inside, pausing immediately, before nodding with a slight amusement.
"Well, look at that. You finally look like a normal human being instead of a swamp monster."
Uhtred let out a low chuckle, setting the blade aside on the stone desk. "By the way, do you happen to have someone with a healer class within this camp?"
Mateo looked at the acid burns still marring the skin along Uhtred’s forearms and neck, then slowly shook his head.
"Not at all. Healers are very rare to find in the first place. Most of the people who were medical doctors in the old world ended up taking some sort of healer class anyway, but because of how vital they are, many of us did not allow them to come to these trial grounds, myself included."
Mateo explained flatly.
"And even if you find any within any camps, the highest grade you will see are of the Uncommon grade. The Rare grades are all back on the main continents for sure."
As Mateo spoke, Uhtred simply kept his face flat, but internally his mind went to Diya’s face. Diya was not some low-grade healer mage. She was a fully-fledged Epic grade healer, and what Mateo had just said about the healer class simply made her worth skyrocket in Uhtred’s mind. Even among the healers in the world right now, Diya was surely among the most valuable.
He found himself hoping she was okay wherever she was and wasn’t being taken advantage of by some other party.
"Don’t worry about it," Uhtred said, glancing down at his arms. "My body’s natural healing would mend all of this, but it would take a few days for the tissues to completely reform. The only thing a healer would have done was speed up the process."
"Good," Mateo said, turning toward the entrance. "You can take this tent for the night to rest and recuperate your reserves. I’m going to move over to one of the secondary tents to sleep. Also, I’ve sent out my scouts already to deliver special notices to the powerhouses who control the camps closest to this place. They will be prepared by the time you release your announcement tomorrow morning."
Uhtred nodded curtly, offering no empty social formalities or drawn-out goodnights. Mateo accepted the silent nod and promptly vacated the tent, letting the heavy leather flap fall shut.
Uhtred walked over to the wide stone bed situated at the corner of the tent. It was covered in several thick layers of heavy animal hides. The coarse fur reeked of wild game and carried a faint metallic tinge of dried blood, but it served its purpose, making the solid stone surface significantly softer to lie on.
He stretched his body out across the hides, staring up at the dark fabric of the ceiling.
Several long moments passed, then an hour, and Uhtred quickly realized that sleep was completely eluding him.
His mind was firing at a rapid pace, processing a mountain of variables. He thought about the integration itself, the sheer, beautiful madness of the System, and how terrifyingly fast the human race had adapted to the rules of this new reality.
His thoughts drifted to Zara, analyzing her anomalous combat capabilities and origins. He thought of Diya, Dennis, and then his mind traveled all the way back to the main continent, thinking of Minh Quan, who was currently managing his territory in their absence.
Looking at the current lethality of Australia, Uhtred felt a wave of thankfulness that Minh Quan had not followed them through the teleportation circle.
With the man’s lower level, it would have been a hassle to ensure his safety. And now that the crew had all been split up, it was a wonder if he would have even been alive at this point.
He was better off staying behind in the territory, where he could progress his attributes at a much safer, controlled pace.
Slowly, as the deep midnight hours rolled past, the heavy mental fatigue of the day finally began to weigh down on Uhtred’s mind. His thoughts slowed, his breathing stabilized, and he gradually began to drift down into the early, drifting state of a dream.
But right as his consciousness began to fall into deep slumber, his body violently jerked back awake.
In a fraction of a second, his eyes snapped wide open, his pupils instantly contracting as he scanned the dim room.
A deep, heavy scowl painted his face.
What the hell is going on?
The interior of the tent looked exactly the same as it had when he closed his eyes, but his senses were screaming at him. The very air inside the room felt entirely different, charged with a weird strangeness.
Uhtred began to force more focus into his perception, but as he did, he realized his thoughts were becoming incredibly groggy and slow. And this wasn’t the kind of grogginess that came from feeling sleepy.
Rather, this was different, like an invasive mental fog clouding his cognition...