Chapter 7

The moment Remy stepped out the gate he was expecting a lawless land, abundant with chaos and the sins of man.

What he got instead was a peaceful forest trail and a river that ran along its side. He took a few more steps and some of the tension in his body finally disappeared.

Remy took a few deep breaths to center himself. He survived touchdown in the Nest, now he had to go from here and make a place for himself. His stomach grumbled once again and Remy noticed that this time a deep feeling of weakness came together with it.

'It seems that whatever was keeping me going is running out' he thought. Remy kept walking and at the same time taking in every detail of his environment.

The island of Kass had a tropical climate with thick vegetation, large jungles and abundant rain. From the memories he received, Remy understood that this was also home to a variety of unique fauna.

Unfortunately, most of them were either poisonous or venomous. If that wasn't enough there were also monsters on the island. Those were creatures that formed from mana and reacted violently to humans.

These were the reasons Remy was especially careful during his walk. Still, at some point he would have to stop and open the crate he had stolen. He checked earlier and his [Inventory] had not disassembled it. It simply appeared as [Food crate] x1.

After making sure he was far enough from the trading point he abruptly turned and walked inside the foliage. All the while he prayed he wouldn't step on anything capable of biting him back. He really needed some shoes soon.

The road was still visible by the time he stopped and took out the crate. A soft thud rang out as it impacted the ground.

Remy took a heavy rock from nearby and smashed the top open revealing the contents. It was vegetables, potatoes to be more specific.

For a few seconds he contemplated on the implications of potatoes existing in another world before shrugging and realizing he didn't care that much. On the contrary, he was thankful it was something he was familiar with. He was also lucky he took this crate and not one containing something like raw flour.

He wasn't in the right mood to make bread in the middle of the jungle. It was not a mood he could ever see himself in to begin with.

Remy shook his head and threw away the silly thoughts. He began placing all the potatoes in his inventory together with the broken crate. No point in wasting perfectly good firewood was there?

Having finished what he set out to do, he came out of the foliage, 231 potatoes richer.

At this rate he won't have to worry about food anytime soon. In the worst case scenario he could even eat them raw though he didn't know how much his stomach would appreciate that.

As Remy continued along his way, fidgeting from time to time at some of the sounds coming from the jungle he glanced at the river. He was definitely thirsty, but was it a good idea to drink directly from it?

The answer was no. Who knows how many things were inside that water that could flip his digestive system over? He'd better wait for the rain or until he had something to boil water into.

With a small sigh he continued onward. He was tempted to set up camp and eat. Making a fire was not a problem. He went through a phase a few years ago, obsessing over survival stuff. He was actually capable of rubbing sticks together to make a fire.

As much as the thought of baked potatoes enticed him he held himself back. The day was well into the afternoon and sunlight would soon get scarce. He'd curse himself if he had to spend the night in the jungle.

The night sky, him, potatoes and Timmy the very hungry nocturnal predator.

Remy shivered and quickened his pace. He ignored the hunger assaulting him and kept walking.

About half an hour had passed when he heard some strange noise. Well that was nothing new, but what drew Remy's attention was the fact that he knew what it was. It sounded like someone or something was rushing through the forest. It was combined with the sound of...hooves?

Remy stopped walking and strained his ears. Whatever it was it was coming closer and that set off all kinds of alarm bells in his mind. Unfortunately, the position he was in made it hard to judge what direction it was coming from.

Just when he was about to bolt back towards the trading post behind him he realized the sound was coming from exactly that same direction. He turned around and, through the foliage, saw someone running like their life depended on it.

Because it actually did.

Right behind him was an entire pack of Sigilian reptiles. The old Remy might have called them as such, but the present one had a better name.

'Raptors! Why the hell am I seeing dinosaurs? Is this Jurassic Park!?' If he hadn't lost his cool, Remy might have remembered that the scaly, two metre tall, dinosaurs were in fact one of the more prevalent species in the Empire's southern area.

The man running away from them was no one Remy knew. In any case, the way he was going they were going to pass the road and head further into the jungle. Remy was once again thankful his luck held.

Slowly he began walking backwards, further along the road towards Xander's camp. Unfortunately, today he was about to learn another important life lesson.

Luck never lasts forever.

The man was cursing his legs for not moving faster. He could almost feel the Sigilian's breath on his skin. If there was only one of them it wouldn't have been an issue, but an entire pack was too much.

Just when he was about to lose all hope, out of the corner of his eye he saw something. He didn't question why a kid was randomly standing in the middle of the road. What he saw was a chance. He caught a tree, almost popping his arm out of his socket and abruptly changed direction.

Remy, who was already a safe distance away from that mess, saw the man's sudden turn. The two of them made eye contact. The man viciously smiled even while dodging a Raptor bite.

Remy's face darkened when he realized what he intended to do.

"Motherfu*ker!" he cursed and turned on his heels. He began running for his life not even twenty four hours after he entered the Nest. That bastard wanted to dump the pack of hungry dinosaurs on him!

Remy was not the most athletic guy around, but he was quick enough on his feet not to fall behind when the man reached him. The Sigilians didn't care, all they saw was that food suddenly doubled. With that realization their appetite doubled as well.

Remy could almost feel his heart bleed from anger. He wanted to punch the bastard's face in, but he had to focus everything he had on running away from the very sharp teeth less than a meter behind.

They kept to the road for some time, but they soon realized they were actually at a disadvantage on flat ground. The beasts were snapping their maws at their behinds more and more often.

Remy entertained the thought of fighting them off for only a split second before his brain burned that idea away. The man was armed, but only with a dagger and a bow. Neither one could help them right now. He wore clothes made from some unidentified creature's fur. It probably served both as utility and protection.

The few glances Remy took at him were not enough to discern how his face looked, but at the moment that was hardly important.

Another maw snapped near his foot, almost making him trip. The other man was in almost the same situation, but unlike Remy he was more decisive in his actions.

Seeing as the road was no good, he slowly began turning right, forcing Remy to do the same. The bushes split apart as the two men and a horde of hissing Sigilians pierced through them.

All ten points Remy had in his agility attribute were put to work as he dogged, turned and ducked his way through the increasingly thick vegetation.

Thankfully, their pursuers were having an even harder time navigating the jungle. They may have been native to the region, but they simply could not compare to the human body's ability to instantly change direction.

However, what they lacked in their ability to maneuver they made up for it with sheer toughness. Remy had to avoid every single branch in his way for fear of getting stuck in it. The Sigilians, on the other hand, simply used their tough scales to power through them.

The chase kept going until they arrived into a clearing. Right in front of them was a huge wall, part of the rocky mountain slopes that began to form from there on. Built inside the rock was a decrepit entrance to what was probably a tunnel.