Apinsig
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Chapter 124 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2022-12-08 16:56:28 +0000 UTCThe night didn’t go by peacefully. The sound of moving rocks woke me up. I didn’t have to rush out of my snow shelter because the sound wasn't coming next to me but more towards the hot springs.
Sneaking out to see what was happening I was quite surprised at what I saw. There was a collection of rocks moving towards the lake. There were seven big rocks that were quite round. But the creature was not taller than me Although its body volume would be about three times more than mine.
I looked where the creature came from, and it seemed that the cliff that seemed normal yesterday now had missing spots corresponding to the creature’s different rocks. The creature also had smaller rocks all around it held up by some unseen force. I didn’t find any magic in the creature but it had a lot of energy. The energy did flow similarly to other creatures that I have seen and by that, I would classify it as high silver tier.
The creature moved by rotating its rocks and it seemed like it could assemble itself any way it liked. When it was halfway to the lake it stopped its movement and looked towards me. At least that’s what I interpreted as it didn’t have a face for me to orientate its position. I unsheathed my sword just in case and to my surprise this action caused the creature to back off a few meters.
We continued to just stand there and look at each other at least that’s what I thought it was doing. I try to step forwards and it did back off the same distance. I took a step back, but it didn't come forward. Was it intelligent? If so, how intelligent is this creature? It didn’t seem to be hostile at least for now. I decided to sheath my sword and then walk forwards a few steps. This time it didn't back off.
I got quite close and just sat down to observe the creature. It took quite a while but eventually, the creature started to move towards the lake. When it was inside it started to grind its rocks together making quite a lot of noise but I would guess a lot less thanks to it being underwater.
It didn’t take me long to notice that one of the rocks was a lot rougher than the rest and it seemed to focus most of it its efforts on that. I guess it just collected a new rock and wanted it to look like the rest of them. I wonder how long it will take to make the new one look as smooth as the others.
It still periodically stopped and seemed to turn towards me, but I couldn’t see any difference from the side that was now facing me from the others. I took out one of the bigger stones that I have picked up. It had a lot of energy in it that seemed to have made it a lot easier to manipulate.
When shaping it, it was like wet clay but when I tried to get a chunk out of it even my energy-enhanced strikes couldn’t brake off a piece. My core energy might have been able to do it, but I didn’t want to use it up when I might have to fight the next moment.
While the rock was interesting it wasn't crucial for me. What was more crucial was finding out if these creatures can be reasoned with. So, I got up which made the creature immediately stop its action and quickly turn towards me. I walked closer and while it did back off a bit it didn't do it with the same urgency as before. I left the rock on the edge of the lake and backed off a dozen steps.
This time it acted fast, but it still took quite a while before it started to slowly move towards the rock I placed down. Now that it was getting closer, I could start to feel some emotions coming from the creature. It seems that its body language is something that I’m starting to understand a bit. But what surprised me the most was how gentle the creature could be about its movements and actions.
From the small rocks, it formed an appendage that was able to pick up the rock allowing it to examine it. At first, it seems that it was quite puzzled by the properties of the rock but as it kept testing it its rocks seemed to start to vibrate and they couldn't stand still like they used to. If I had to guess, I would say that represented excitement.
It burst with sudden action as the rock that it had been working on was thrown aside not just physically but I could see it pulling back its energy from the rock making it completely normal. The rock that I gave however started to be surrounded by the creature’s energy that slowly penetrated it. It seems that it was being extremely careful to preserve the energy balance of the rock so it would keep its properties.
It was fascinating to see and actually helped me with many different problems that I have been having with improving my energy control. This was similar to when I was looking at the dungeon core as it gave me a chance to look at different ways energy could be controlled. I sat with the creature for hours looking at how it made the rock a part of its body.
When it was finally done it started another round of testing. It was able to manipulate the shape quite easily but at the same time make it as hard as possible. What surprised me was its next round of testing.
It made it into a round rock that was at the end of it made appendage and struck it down like it was a mace. The rock itself wasn’t damaged but the target rock the former part of itself was shattered to pieces. It was even able to make it into a spear-like object and pierced the ground with it. Though it seemed to have a little bit of trouble getting it back out needing to change the shape of the rock to get it out.
Its testing had brought it quite close to me. When I stood up it seemed to have flinched from the surprise and quickly backed off a few steps. It seems that in its excitement it had forgotten that I was here. What it did next made me believe that it was truly a thinking creature. From the rock that I gave him a shape similar to a hand formed that it extended with its appendage towards me.
While this creature shouldn’t be able to cause me harm, I was still careful. It must have come in contact with humans before or perhaps observe them from its home, but I did extend my hand and grasped his. It shaking it up and down confirmed to me that he had at least seen humans do something like this or perhaps goblins.
There was no further communication as it started to move towards its home. Its different body parts fit into the holes of the cliff quite well and after a little bit of shifting, I was barely able to distinguish it from the cliff. Even the energy signature started to decrease as well, and I now know why I hadn’t noticed it before. It almost seemed to go into a dormant state where its energy was barely moving. Like that the creatures soon resembled rocks with special properties.
Who would have guessed that this hot spring could give me another surprise? Perhaps it's not a good idea to build a hot spring complex here but then again perhaps I would have a protector for it. But those questions will be left to future me. Currently, I had other points of interest that I needed to explore, and I had used up quite a lot of time here.
Moving towards the other river at first was quite novel moving up and down the rocks but eventually, it started to get repetitive. What made my mood better was that I had run into a tin ore vein.
While I will most likely not need to use this for a while, I still marked it down. When I finally reached the river I was quite pleased to see that this one also had multiple waterfalls and even bigger ones. The mist it made from the water hitting the rock was quite pleasant, but I think my armour will not appreciate me if I stayed here for too long.
Following the river upstream was a lot more difficult this time. But I was still capable of it until I wasn’t as the river halfway up the mountain went inside it. There was no way for me to keep following.
The flow here was quite fast. It remained me more of a dam spill gate when they are open than a river coming out of the mountain. I don’t think that I will be able to swim fast enough to make it down the river and who knows if there's even a reason to go there.
I was surprised that the river hadn’t carved a larger hole, but it seems that the rock here is quite strong and had quite a lot of energy in it. It didn’t seem to have any special properties it was just better rock. I also mark that down in my notebook because who knows when stronger rocks might be necessary.
It was time for the last major point that I wanted to reach. It was the highest location that I could see. Getting here already took 2 days but I wanted to reach the top so I could get an even better idea of how the lands around here looked.
The cliffs here were steep and forward progress was difficult. I would suspect that a normal human would have to stop multiple times if not give up on this climb. About 2/3 to the top, on one of the smaller plateaus I noticed a large cave entrance that was larger than a house.
Looking around there didn't seem to be any large creatures around and come to think of it there really weren’t any large creatures on the mountain just some smaller critters which was quite odd.
It was a bad idea, but I still decided to go inside, and I had to curse when I found out what was inside. There was a lot more cave that seemed to branch off in multiple directions and if my nose and hearing is to believe it was an extremely large cave system that was teeming with all kinds of life.
I think I just found myself a new expedition location but unfortunately, it was not going to be during this expedition. I will need some different gear to go down there and perhaps a few more levels just in case. It did seem to have higher energy density as I got a bit deeper in. Marking the location down I looked up towards the summit which seemed a lot closer now.
When I finally got to the top, I was sweating something that I hadn’t done for quite a while now. I had really pushed myself and I am guessing this climb would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t pushed myself to go nonstop for days and doing it all while wearing my armour, but I wasn’t stupid to think that I could do it without it. Who knows what monsters might lurk out here, so protection was paramount.
The view from here was magnificent. Looking at it all I felt amazing. Who would have guessed my old bones could feel something so wonderful again? I even had to wipe away a few tears. But it was time to get back to business as I took out my notebook to mark down all that I see.
The mountain range continued northeast for quite a while, but it was also quite narrow. To the east was a huge swamp-like land and to the north a huge forest. As I kept looking further and further to the north the forest seemed to grow older yet radiating a lot more strength.
That place is quite dangerous it seemed. It wasn't completely forested as there were large patches of grassland that were inside the forest. A weird combination but perhaps not for a fantasy world.
From up here, I could even see my farm. It was quite cool but even with my vision, the houses were just small spots. To the west beyond my lands was another mountain range and the Grassland in the south seemed to extend quite far. I will need to come back here when it's summer or late spring to see everything green and then again in fall to see all the colours.
I saw a few more exciting locations further into the mountain range and in the swamp lands as well as in the forest to the north, but I just marked them down for later expectations. Currently, I was done I had reached the highest point that I wanted and followed the rivers as far as I could.
I was planning on going down a different route from the mountain more towards the springs so I could soak in it before I went back. This way I will perhaps also discover something new from a path that I haven’t used before.
I was about halfway down when I stopped for a break. I slept at the summit but that was 3 days back. Going down should be easier but it was not. My new climbing skill sure liked descending as I was gaining experience extremely fast.
While I was resting, I didn’t stop looking for something interesting and a little bit off my planned route there seem to be a huge area of rocks that had an interesting energy flow. Perhaps I could bring back a new rock with different properties for my rocky acquaintance.
Getting closer it was quite easy to see the different rocks that were covering the cliff face. But I stopped my advance. This was unusual. There were breaks in between special rocks where normal rock was.
I slowly got closer and examined it further and it did seem somewhat similar, but I could not put my finger on it. But then I saw one of the rock's energy starting to move a bit faster. That was quite unusual. Then the other rocks began to do the same and now it was easier to see their round nature.
It was similar to the creature that was in the hot springs. I quickly started to back off but like a floodgate, the slowly waking rocks immediately burst with energy and started to collect themselves into one creature.
Half of the cliff face detached and started to form the same rock creature as I saw in the hot springs but a lot bigger tens of times bigger and its energy was definitely at the same tier as the sabre tooth cats.
I backed off as much as I could, but a cliff drop stopped me from escaping quickly. My hands moved as quickly as possible as I found a rock where I could tie my rope to. Before I could start to ascend the creature now fully formed turned towards me and I could see something that looked like a huge face made out of multiple rocks. It admitted a vibrating roar and started to walk towards me on its huge legs that were made out of multiple rocks.
I ascended as quickly as possible hoping to get away. I made it to the next plateau before I had to dodge a few small rocks that tumble towards me that were broken off the cliff from the sheer weight of the creature.
The creature now was looking downwards, and my hopes of a quick escape died as the creature shifted its rocks around and started to quickly ascend while stretching itself longer and longer. I didn’t wait for another second and started to run away so that I would have time to think about how to defeat this enemy as I didn’t think I would be able to get away.
Comments
Talen Drake
Descend vs ascend.
