Chapter 173: Praying Mantis Blessing and a Grave Warning

The next morning everyone got up early only to see that Tank, his friend, and Cinder were all busy having a conversation that had most likely gone on through the entire night. From what they could tell it seemed like Cinder was listening to the advice of the two older beast with a both curious and somewhat excited look about her. The large spider seemed to love hearing their tales of the past and learning about all of the things other beast they had fought before could do. Learning from experience was always an important thing, but it was just as important to learn from the experiences of the people that come before you and that was exactly what Cinder was doing.

The group had a nice quick breakfast after they had gotten cleaned up for the day and the large Praying Mantis flew off for a moment and came back with a large buffalo from across the prairie to eat for its breakfast. The big guy couldn't cause too much trouble in other territories, but it was fine as long as he just stuck to basic things like getting a meal instead of terrorizing the whole area of weaker creatures. It was a bit shocking for the whole group to see that one of the creatures that nearly scared the life out of them and sent them racing away from that side of the prairie was so easily caught and killed by the giant praying mantis. In fact from what they could see the creature had died in a state of shock as there was a big slash across its neck but no other injuries. Its eyes were still wide open in surprise as its head barely hung on to its nearly cut off neck.

From what Joshua could see of the creature he was almost certain that it was taken down with one hit and the only reason its body was still intact was the fact that the praying mantis wanted to be able to enjoy its meal. This truly put things in perspective for all of Joshua's group as they saw how far they'd have to go before they could challenge some of the creatures roaming around the world and they even knew that Tank and his friend weren't the strongest beast around either.

After a quick meal they all were getting ready to head out of the clearing and go towards the canyon while Tank's friend was about to go out and about to explore other areas. Before they went their separate ways though the large praying mantis signaled them all to stop before turning towards Adrian and surprising everyone with his words. "Although you are not ready now I can sense that in the future you have potential to be the perfect partner for me to rise to the next level."

"What makes you say that?" Adrian asked in surprise.

"I can sense a connection to the powerful soul beast that is inside of you and I know that it could help me rise to new heights, just like Tank and Cinder can with Lilly as their partner. Yours seems even more specific to my talents, but you are not ready for a partner such as myself and that won't even be the case when you reach level one hundred. You will still have quite a ways to go before you reach my level, but I'm willing to wait."

"Maybe then you'll finally except a name and make it easier on the rest of us." Tank said with a smirk getting a chuckle out of his old friend.

"Well even if it's not yet time for me to join you I can do one thing for you that will help you out on your adventures." The large praying mantis said before it reached out one of its large front legs towards Adrian and gently tapped the enormous body part against Adrian's chest. It may have been a gentle tap for the giant creature, but it seemed more like a giant thump that nearly knocked Adrian over for everyone else. If there had been any more force behind that tap it might have actually injured him.

For a moment no one knew what exactly was going on, but soon a bright glow seemed to enclose around Adrian only for a few seconds before his body went back to normal and he seemed perfectly fine. "What exactly was that?" Adrian asked as he looked up at the giant figure with curiosity.

"I just gave you my blessing. It will go well with your soul beast for now until I can become your partner in the future. It will boost your reflexes even more and increase the precision of your attacks. It should also give you a decent boost when it comes to using your sword aura when you reach that point in the future, but the most important thing has nothing to do with what you can do now." The large creature said with what everyone assumed was a smirk on its face even if it was hard to tell. "It will allow you to qualify for a certain unique job in the future that I feel will go extremely well with your abilities. I'm looking forward to see how far you will have reached the next time we meet."

The large praying mantis then turned his attention to the entire group before a more serious look seemed to cover his face. "Before I go I should warn you of the fact that your groups is most likely not ready to take on the canyon at this point. The step up in danger when going into an area such as that is rather drastic with all sorts of monsters to go up against. It is also going to take a long time to get through such an area. It will at least take weeks at your current strength and that's with a group that is much larger than the one you have at the moment. I suggest you come back with some extra help after sometime before taking the place on, but you can go check out the entrance to figure out what I mean."

"We'll head your warning this time around old friend, but I'm sure your words have just made them more excited to take on such a challenge in the future." Tank said with a chuckle.

"That's no problem, I would expect nothing less from them after all. Until we meet again friends." The large praying mantis said before he spread his wings and leaped into the air. Soon his insane speed was put to good use as his body flew away faster than anything any of them had seen.

"I don't see how a creature so big can still be so fast." Henry said with a puzzled look as the praying mantis had disappeared into the distance.

"That's not even his full size." Tank said getting everyone to look at him as if he were crazy. The creature towered over even the Ant Queen and that supposedly wasn't his full size. They thought the giant turtle must have been mad. "He shrinks down to that size so he doesn't attract too much attention, but if he were to shrink down any further then some creatures might be stupid enough to challenge him given the opportunity. At his full size that guy can reach the size of at least fifty meters in the past (hundred and sixty or so feet) and I doubt he's gotten any smaller as he's gotten older and stronger."

"There has to be some disadvantages to getting up to that size right?" Aito asked as he frowned at the idea of having to face creatures that size far too often in the future.

"Most beast don't stay at their full size since their body is slowed down and they're movement become far more restricted. Plus it's incredibly difficult for so many creatures of that size to live in an area without causing constant havoc. The planet wouldn't stand for that and often throws any trouble makers that decide to go around leaving a trail of destruction behind because of their size into dungeons. It's very rare to see creature fight at that size since it would involve too much of the surroundings and could end up attracting more trouble their way." Tank explained getting nods from everyone.

After the short talk the group started to leave the clearing and head for the canyon to check out what Tank's friend had warned them about. It didn't take them very long to reach the place since it wasn't much more than a ten minute walk away from the clearing and there weren't any monsters that got in their way on the way to the entrance. They could see that the surroundings slowly shifted from tall trees, to short brushes and then finally to a more rocky terrain the closer they got to the canyon. By the time they reached the entrance to the canyon the entire surroundings were made up of rocky terrain and they could only see the trees from a distance and glimpses of the prairie on each side of the canyon.

The canyon itself was enormous and stretched on further than they could see. That alone made it certain to all of them that the advice they had been given was most likely true. The canyon just seemed too big for there to only be a small portion to explore. In the end it would take them a long time to explore the area unlike the prairie that was just hills for as far as the eye could see. They knew that they would end up facing several different challenges as they explored the upcoming area and that made it take far longer than usual.

Another thing Joshua and Tank could both sense as they approached the canyon was the fact that there were all sorts of different types of auras up ahead and there was no way there could only be one type of creature inside of the canyon. That meant they could be facing several different types of creatures at once with all sorts of strengths and weaknesses that would make things more challenging. Then judging by how close together all of the auras were there was no way that they wouldn't have to face large amounts of creatures at a time which would make things even more difficult than they were expecting. There small group could easily get overwhelmed if they ended up facing to many creatures at once.

While they were inspecting the canyon two separate messages pooped up for all of them to see. The first message was one for their achievement on discovering a new area and the fact that their guild had actually leveled up from that fact. They all pushed that aside for now so that they could focus on the other message which was more important at the moment.

[WARNING: this territory is a huge step up from the previous area. It is recommended to enter this territory at level seventy and it is also recommended that you enter in a large group of at least twenty people to progress through the area at a decent pace. Creatures in the territory tend to use swarm tactics that will overwhelm smaller groups if given the chance. It is also recommended that you pack up on a large amount of supplies before entering this area since it will take a long time to fully explore and find your way through it. Hopefully anyone entering shall heed these warnings.]

This was the first time the group had seen a legit warning before entering a territory. They had seen it inside dungeons, but not for a territory. Seeing as how the canyon itself was so dangerous they all had to wonder how dangerous the dungeon inside such a place would end up being. "Well I guess your friend was right Tank, we're not set up to take on such a challenge at the moment." Henry said with a shake of his head as everyone seemed to agree with him.

"Then I guess it's about time for us to head back then. After all we've got to check out the construction of James Town and how the guild leveling has affected things." Aito said as the group agreed it was finally time to put an end to the expedition. They all looked at the giant canyon for a little while more as they admired the view before setting up a portal to head back to James Town and see how things had changed their.