The night passed Ren as he rested in the safety of a tall tree. He had moved from where the small hordelings had devoured the predator he had been fighting. Staying there was only going to have caused him more trouble, and so he had moved from tree to tree jumping through canopies of thick-limbed behemoths.

  The early dawn gave him a good visual of the life beginning to shift under the tree. Little protomimus were hiding away now that they could be seen, while others of the much larger variety came out from hiding places to scour for victims they could now see.

  Ren made his way back toward the central mountain where the thick earth affinity blanketed the area. He knew that it could potentially be dangerous but we sought out whatever mystery may lay tucked away there.

  Venturing his way on the ground may have been tantamount to suicide. Rather, Ren stuck to the high treetops observing the areas he passed through even if it heavily slowed his travel time. His progress was made slower by observing the devourer protomimus again prowling the area.

  Rather quiet for its size, the beast was still audible to his keen ears. He heard it slowly approaching from quite a distance and stopped to watch how it prowled the area. With two minuscule arms and twin horns, the beast was an odd sight. Regardless of its odd features, though, it was menacing.

  The name “Devourer Protomimus” was not given out lightly as Ren saw the stains of old blood across the primitive lizard-like body of the devourer. Regardless of how much of the blood might have been its, it was undoubtedly that much of the old red stains were from its victims.

  Curious, Ren decided to delay his journey toward the central mountain to continue his study of the devourer. It wasn’t long either until he got his kick out of it.

  The devourer suddenly stopped its slow march through the underbrush and charged forward on its two long and powerful legs. Within moments, the body of a far smaller protomimus dangled within its jaws. It was about the size of Ren., though far heavier.

  An ambush predator, possible that it hunts smaller prey? It was speculative but also begged the question of why the beast had been charging around carelessly earlier. If it was an ambush predator that slowly marched its way through the thick underbrush of these forests, then what had caused it to run around loudly earlier? Could it have heard him and charged, or was it something far worse?

  Unsure of what apex predators walked this forest, or if there was much to worry about than the gigantic aquatic life. It was something he had planned on scouting out for, but he had decided it better to completely avoid such creatures.Now, his curiosity was far more peak, and he was tempted to do stupid things.

  Forcing his mind away from the choice to be an idiot, Ren turned away from the devourer protomimus and headed back for the mountain. Perhaps going there wasn’t the brightest idea either, but at this point doing anything and everything seemed to be a mortal danger to him.

  Staying within the trees again, his progress was slow. Finding an arboreal protomimus unaware and napping through, was a treat. Seeing the small creature lying on a branch unaware of its surroundings, Ren used his stealth to build up momentum while slowly getting closer to the creature.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  It didn’t take him long to reach it, nor did it take long for him to build up enough momentum to launch forward in a sneak attack to instantly kill the annoying little tree rat. The instant kill didn’t get him much closer to the next level up, but anything was valuable. He had prematurely ascended for the second time at level ten, but to achieve the third ascension it required level thirty, eleven more levels.

  Watching for more opportunities to strike, he found no more variations of protomimus to slay. Instead, he found himself low on the central mountain with the trees beyond him thinning heavily. Activating stealth, he crept down onto the ground below. Without cover from the trees, he worried about being run down by a giant variant of protomimus.

  Trying to make his way silently forward, Ren watched his surroundings carefully. The earth affinity grew stronger as he moved further toward the tops of the mountain where the strange rock formation was.

  His journey was slow and careful, avoiding any obstacles that would make his path more visible or too noisy. Following along the side of a large section of boulders, it provided him great cover as he made his way further towards the tops of the central mountain.

  Hearing a small sound, Ren peered around himself and tucked closer toward the boulders. A small protomimus moved along the boulders to his left, a large hunk of meat within its jaws. Similar to the horelings, its body was much more brown. Lacking the larger eyes of the hordelings too, Ren was glad it was not one of them.

  Micro Protomimus Lvl 6

  It was one of the weakest creatures he had encountered since the Underdark, and the forest surrounding the human settlements. Without the presence of strong warriors to kill off any threatening beasts, creatures on average were far more powerful.

  Ren crept closer, curious about what the little guy was eating. The corpse of a protomimus slightly taller than him lay tucked between two boulders. The stone behind it was cracked with a metal ball wedged into it. The metal was well-rounded, perhaps a perfect sphere before crashing into the boulder. A hole passed straight through the protomimus’s body where the ball had collided with it. The metal sphere was as wide as Ren’s palm nearly, had had to have been propelled by something quite powerful.

  I’m not alone here on this landlocked island. Ren felt his heart drop. Someone with a small cannon had blasted a hole right through this protomimus. Technology he had yet to see in this world. Perhaps it could have been magic, someone conjuring a metal sphere and launching it through the means of magical propulsion.

  Whichever possibility, both meant potential doom for Ren. His greatest hope was that whoever lived here would not know of him, wouldn’t know what he was and how he was hunted. The likelihood of whatever, or whoever lived here being in contact with the outside world was miniscule. There was a small hope in that, to find another person again who wouldn’t hunt him down.

  Ren moved with greater speed toward the top of the mountain, both fear and hope played across his mind. The anxious anxiety of what could be, and the hope at what may be.

  He moved with enough speed that his stealth had fallen in effectiveness and left him much more exposed. The emotions playing within his mind pushed out that realization. Leaving behind the boulder field Ren crested a jutting section of stone to find a second layer of stone jutting forward. Within the dark depths under the stone, a glint of metal shone.

  Without noticing Ren moved past it. A voice spoke with an accent that made an image flash into Ren’s mind. A memory that was swiftly lost to his mind fog, that of a man with a painted face and kilt.

  The accented voice said, “Not another step there, human.”

  Ren froze at the voice behind him and the confusion at his memories being swept away. Why did I picture a man with a painted face and a skirt behind me?

  The accented man behind Ren pressed a long tube of metal against his back. The metal was thicker than Ren’s arm and cold on the exposed flesh.

  “I mean no harm, I just noticed the stone.” Ren spoke with anxiety in his voice.