“New places can be beautiful and full of new opportunities and expansion, but that's only one side of the dice when a new place is discovered. Other sides can include horrors, monsters, deadly diseases, and so much worse. It's why expanding off Caltermira has always failed. The oceans and few islands hold dangers even Chosen struggle with.”

  

  The next island was much bigger, connected with a stone pillar that looked like a weird growth that had emerged from both and connected in the middle. Of course, we didn't take the path. I was mounted on Umbra. The island was normal-looking if you ignored the floating. It was littered with tall grass and weird small trees that had flat, large leaves. Identifying had no results, which meant they were normal, the long grass that sat motionless in the still air. The grass had to be at least three feet high. I would have called the island tropical, as I understood it.

  I asked Umbra

  Keeping my grip on the spike I was attached to, I kept an eye on the island, looking for anything, but all that stood on the island were trees and grass. As she landed, I untied myself and slid down her side, my bow in hand. The grass was tall. It stretched up to my shoulders and made me rethink searching on foot, but looking above had yielded little as well. Testing the ground for a few places, remembering how I'd found Umbra's egg, I frowned. How did we find where the treasure on the island was? As it turned out, we didn't have to. The sight of grass moving was warning enough, and both Umbra and I turned to the stalks. I couldn't see what was moving them yet, but Umbra growled a warning, and I took a few steps back to let her stand in front, pulling out an arrow from my quiver. The creature that skittered into view made my skin crawl. A giant bug, a tick the size of my leg. Its barbed sizer-like mandibles, or whatever they were called, made a clicking noise as they snapped together. What made me take another step back was the seven others I could see coming out of the grass.

  “Nope.” It was a statement I said and was entirely behind the word. I'd dealt with small ticks, and they were a pain and creepy when looked at closely, but these ones were multiple times larger. They were horrifying, and the clicking noise they made would, without a doubt, give me nightmares. My first arrow hit the one in front before even Umbra could react. It sank in and froze the tick. It stopped moving, but I would have put another arrow in it for good measure if there weren't more. Umbra opened her mouth but had to jerk back as one of the ticks in the front sprung at her. I had to do the same as one leaped at me. To my terror, that was totally founded. They were fast and could jump high.

  Using Stalker’s Movement, I avoided one aimed directly at my chest. I pulled back another arrow and saw Umbra spear one of them through, but even as I killed my second and brought our kill count up to three, four more of the bugs appeared out of the grass, scuttling forward. It might have driven others off or made them retreat, but us? There was a challenge that sprung from both sides of our bond, and without a glance, a game began. Who could kill the most ticks? That didn't mean we wouldn't pull back if they started to swarm, but a few dozen bugs, horrifying as they were, couldn't drive a dragon or me off.

  The tall grass played to the bugs' advantage as the fight began in earnest. Umbra's breath was slowed, and the grass caused it to curve or bend in ways that were impossible for the dragon to predict. As for me, I didn't have a line of sight further than a dozen feet, if that. As for the bugs themselves, they were fast and could jump in one direction, almost like a living arrow. Umbra's scales proved to be enough of a challenge to cut through, and she could stay in one place and claw them off as they tried to make their way through her scales.

  I had to dodge and stay moving, making use of Stalker’s Movement to avoid ticks as they flew out of the grass. I kept in a circle, moving around Umbra, only using the normal version of Frost Arrow to spear through the light carapace the bugs had. A lucky arrow went through one and struck a second as it landed. The ticks did manage to score a few hits on us. One of them latched onto and pierced the soft underside of Umbra's forearm. It was ripped in half in return. I misjudged the activation of Stalker’s Movement and was too slow to avoid a cut of a leaping tick, scoring me across the back and cutting cleanly through the leather. I held it down with the sole of my boot and put an arrow into its body in return before it could do more than turn. It did let me know that my leather armor, while good, wasn't up to the task of stopping flying bugs and put that thought once again of new armor in my mind.

  The fight truly ended with a lucky breath from Umbra that shattered the already-frozen grass and caught a pile of the last advancing ticks. Looking around, I counted my bugs and looked at Umbra.

  Umbra turned from the grass to look at me and snorted.

  I scowled but smiled after a moment. I couldn't be that surprised. They had targeted the large, unmoving creature. I asked

  The dragon inspected her body. ”

  In response to her words, I reached back with my arm and gently touched the scratch I couldn't see. It wasn't deep, just a line on my back, even if it bled. “It's not too bad. It just stings in the open air.” After a look around, I moved over to one of the bugs, inspecting it.

  Identify did nothing as the bug was dead, and I didn't have a skill for non-magical part identification. If anything had been magical and separate from the monster, identifying it would have been possible, but as it stood, the dead tick was just a body. Levelless and classless. Placing a finger on it, I shuddered slightly and then stored the body in the spatial tattoo. Looking at the other corpses, I sighed. All monsters had worth, and if they were true monsters, they would have cores to harvest at the least. That thought made me pause, and I let out an angry curse, feeling my tail lash. Looking over to my bond, I explained gloomily,

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Umbra growled, and her snout wrinkled.

  Looking at the strewn bodies, I nodded, doing a quick count and coming up with the thirty intact bodies that still had to have their core as we stored them and watched in amusement as Umbra played with her own storage. She'd seen me use my own enough to make using it easy, but there was awe in her emotions as she got to use hers for the first time. When we left the event, I'd have to find a spatial storage item for her or maybe a way for her to use mine. Was that even possible? Maybe with a skill.

  Once done, I looked around at the dirt, the grass, and the trees, then hummed thoughtfully. ?”

  Umbra gave a mental shrug as she ripped some grass up with her talons, then reared up on her hind legs and looked around.

  With no other real idea of what to do, that's what we did. The first hour was spent just looking around, flipping the odd stone, or looking for a hole in the dirt. That turned up nothing. The next two hours were spent upturning the grass and trees and looking for anything like an illusion. Nothing. It was in the fourth hour that we found it, under a tree, the closest tree in the center of the island. Umbra had found it mostly by accident and letting out a bit of anger. The box, a simple wooden one, had been sent flying as the roots were upturned. The real question was, who hid treasure under a tree? The place was ridiculous, and that wasn't just because I was covered in sweat and dirt. No, it was.

  I stared at the box; a latch held the lid on, and only a tiny scratch from it flew a hundred feet. Umbra looked down at it as well, and with her prod, I unlocked the iron clasp and opened it.

  The item was small and surprisingly simple. A red metal ring. There were no gems, markings, or anything visible on the outside, and picking it up, I turned it around. It was a deep scarlet. Finally, I identified it.

  [Blood River Ring - Rare - This ring allows the user to convert water that the ring touches at a high mana cost into the blood of the user.]

  Holding it up, I let Umbra identify it as I thought about its uses. I could think of a few of them, but none of them would suit me. A blood mage would probably be the best bet if I wanted to sell it, but they were rare.

  Umbra grumbled.

  I chuckled, and instead of putting it away, I slipped it on. Eyeing the dragon, I wondered if there was a spot she could wear it, maybe a tooth. Would that work?

  Umbra snorted.

  My eyebrows rose as I considered it, looking back at the ring. Probably, but it was something to test out later.

  Looking around, I tilted my head up. Time was impossible to tell with no sun, but looking around, I inspected the vast starry sky and, more importantly, the surrounding islands.

  Stretching her neck up, my bond looked around. There were any number of islands we could choose, but I bet that the buildings were special in some way and gave some form of cover when we decided to rest. Parting my jaws in a yawn, I watched as Umbra stiffened and felt a twinge through the bond.

  Turning to look where Umbra was, I saw the island in the distance, but it was way too far off to make anything out. Focusing on the bond for a moment, I used it to look through Umbra’s eyes. Giving the vertigo a moment to pass, I looked at what she saw. Her vision was better, and by quite a bit, even as good as her vision was, though she could only make out the vague shapes and colors of the figures climbing. A group of six, maybe humans or elves, were scaling a set of vines that led to a much higher floating island that stood alone in the sky. As we watched the group move, they made their way up. They were taking their time and seemed to have already plotted out a route. I found myself slightly impressed. The people were obviously experienced, swinging and twisting, taking turns to time themselves off and moving in a weird formation.

  It came as a surprise to both us and the group when the long sinew leg poked out of the vines. At first glance, it was obviously not a human limb. It was massive and ended in a jagged spike that tore the vines around, sending them falling with ease. What came out next was even worse. A head peaked out from the vines, a terrible, horrifying visage that sent chills up and down my spine even at the distance we were watching from. It was just a mouth. The face had no eyes, ears, or nose. The mouth was like a fly trap. It opened sideways and had rows of crooked teeth that couldn't fit inside its mouth to the point its own blood dripped from its maw. Its body was much worse. I shivered and felt the blood drain from my face as part of it slid outside from the vines. Tentacles on its back were latched around vines, keeping it held up as three other long spiky limbs drew out of the vines. What happened when the monster noticed the group was something I couldn't look away from. The first limb fell like a spear and tore a hole in the highest person. It looked like a man, but that didn't matter anymore as the limb ripped him open. He didn't even have time to cry out. The next one was flung free of the island as their vine was cut off, which made him lucky. The third was grabbed. I didn't see what happened as Umbra tore her gaze away, and I blinked several times as I pulled away from the link that connected our vision.

  I fumbled over my words, even in the bond, unsure of what to say.

  Umbra hadn't a clue, but her words were steady:

  I didn't object. The idea of finding treasure and racing around had lost its charm if we had run into that. Suppose Umbra had flown too close. I shuddered at the idea. My questions didn't have any answers and weren't meant to get a response. Slowly, I looked at the nearby island again, not with greed or excitement but weariness.

  Umbra looked around and made a thoughtful rumbling noise.

  Glancing at the vines in the distance, I nodded slowly and shook myself. I didn't glance up at the beast as I scurried onto Umbra, and we lifted into the air. It might have been fear of what I would see or wanting ignorance either way. As we flew higher, I kept an eye out for promising islands and didnt look back.