Chapter 748: Instinct

Moon grinned, glancing back at his two companions still devouring their meals, the serpent’s corpse and the Surpasser body shrinking steadily under their appetites.

Not a bad day’s work.

He finished gathering the last of the hoard and turned to take in the dead basin one more time, already wondering what other ancient monsters this island still hid in its unexplored depths.

Once his two pets had eaten their fill, Moon continued the hunt without wasting any time, the three of them pressing deeper into the island.

He made a point of keeping the journey fun for his companions, chatting with them as they walked, keeping their spirits up, and, on a whim, trying to teach them phrases to speak through their mental connections.

After many hours of training woven into their travels, Mirage finally mastered his first phrase.

<I am the original,> the white steed intoned proudly through their link.

Moon had chosen it specifically for Mirage’s illusion ability. Since the steed could conjure an identical clone of himself , there was something fitting, and genuinely funny, about Mirage being able to declare which one was the real deal.

He could already imagine the confusion it would cause an enemy, two identical steeds, and one solemnly announcing its authenticity.

For Honeybun, Moon taught a different phrase.

<My time has come,> the golden turtle declared.

Moon had picked it for its versatility. The phrase held countless interpretations depending on the context, it could punctuate any of the turtle’s transformations, mark the start of a serious fight, or simply sound appropriately dramatic. But the real reason, the one Moon kept to himself with a private grin, was that it echoed the solemn, sagely speech of a certain ancient, wise turtle from an old cartoon of the previous human civilization.

Honeybun, it turned out, loved the phrase. It took to saying it at completely random moments,

And it made Moon smile every single time.

Throughout the journey, Moon also kept refining his control over Lightning-Assimilation. The breakthroughs were behind him, and now it was simply a matter of repetition and polish, extending his hold on the technique, tightening his control over the volatile element.

By the end of the four-plus hours, he’d pushed his proficiency up by a few more percentage points, which was reliable progress he had no complaints about.

The hunt itself was productive but not spectacular. Over the long journey, Moon encountered plenty of beasts, creatures ranging from Three-Star all the way up to Five-Star, more than enough to keep Honeybun and Mirage sharp and to feed Moon’s level, spiritual energy, and Life count even if they were nearly insignificant.

But he never found what he was truly hunting for. Another Surpasser-level beast.

The Shadow Panther and the Obsidian Hollow Serpent had been rare finds, apex predators tucked away in hidden corners of the island, and after four hours of searching he hadn’t turned up a third.

For his own continued growth, and for Honeybun to get the kind of fight that would genuinely challenge a Surpasser-tier turtle, he needed stronger opponents, and the island simply wasn’t offering them up readily.

"I can’t wait for that realm to finally open," Moon sighed, the frustration leaking into his voice. "So I can go in, see what it actually holds, and finally get real control over the book that moves this whole floating island. Then I won’t be stuck relying on whatever happens to wander across my path."

The Chamber Secret Realm’s cycle was still months away, and until then, the island remained functionally sealed, the secrets outside of it locked behind a door that wouldn’t open on his schedule. He couldn’t force it, couldn’t speed it up, could only wait.

And waiting, when there was growing to be done, grated on him.

"Nothing to do about it for now," he admitted, giving Honeybun’s shell a pat. "We keep hunting what we can find, keep getting stronger, and we’ll be ready the moment that realm opens. Come on. Let’s see if there’s a third monster hiding somewhere on this rock."

The three of them pressed on, Honeybun occasionally announcing that its time had come, and Mirage insisting it was the original.

***

~Whoosh~

A shadow plummeted out of the ash sky with terrifying speed, talons extended, aimed straight for Moon’s back.

Moon felt the danger before he saw it, and immediately he took action.

"Careful!" He warned his beasts.

Lightning crackled down his summoned sword as he spun and swept the blade upward, and the talons that would have gutted him instead shrugged off the lightning-charged edge with extreme difficulty, sending tremors down his bones.

The beast’s momentum still carried it into him, one talon raking across his shoulder and drawing a long line of blood, but luckily it was a light wound, when it could have been worse.

He warded the rest of the strike off with his blade, driving the attacker back into the air before it could land a second blow.

Moon’s eyes snapped upward, tracking the shape as it wheeled and climbed.

Six hours later, it seems like he had finally stumbled upon what he’d been searching for the entire time.

A Surpasser-rank beast. And this time it was something new, a species he hadn’t encountered before, its presence pressing down on him from the sky.

If not for his honed reflexes, drilled into him through countless fights, the strike would have torn clean through him, a crippling, possibly fatal wound delivered before he even noticed the threat.

Moon noted its features, activating his Eye of Truth.

It was an enormous hawk, far larger than any ordinary flying bird, its wingspan casting a shadow across their figures, its feathers a deep storm-gray.

It circled high above, eyeless to Moon’s ground-bound perspective.

"A flying Surpasser-rank beast," Moon muttered, wiping the blood from his grazed shoulder, a grin tugging at his lips despite the near-miss as he cast Minor Mend to close the wound.

"Well, that’s a first."

A flying Surpasser was a much more difficult challenge to tackle in comparison to a grounded one.

Against most opponents, it controlled the engagement entirely, choosing when and where to strike, never committing to the ground where the opponent held the advantage.

"I haven’t tasted a surpasser rank bird before... you better not disappoint."