Chapter Nineteen

"How far are we going to travel? We're running out of food." Samir spoke with an exhausted tone. They had been travelling for over a week now, yet the whole time they could still yellow. Once in a while they would run into small critters for food, but that couldn't sustain them.

"Who knows." Alem didn't feel too terrible. Sure his stomach was grumbling most of the days, but the protein he was getting from the critters was enough for him. "It's kind of crazy that we haven't run into anything other than a few oasis—"

"Look there!" Suddenly Eli spoke with excitement. Her fingers pointing to the left of the group.

"What?" Samir asked with a bit of panic.

"Don't you see that green horizon?" Eli asked while looking at the view with a palpating heart. "Its the end of the desert! We can finally leave this place!"

Alem looked where Eli was pointing. Squinting, he finally saw the line of green. "Finally." Sighing a little, he turned the trajectory go the group and began to walk towards that direction. "Still, this is extremely weird. I thought all of you could see the end of the desert."

"We couldn't. The desert was beyond the horizon. We could only see an ocean beyond the forest, that was all." Nor spoke in confirmation. "Who cares though, let's rush there as quickly as possible."

Everyone agreed with Nor and began to speedily make their way towards the green horizon. Alem stayed at the back of the group this time. Nor led, with Eli closely behind. Then Simar, then Salea, and lastly Kir and Alem.

"Alem, what's the plan once we get out? Like, you said you wanted to bring animals back to the base, but why go back once we escape?" The idea of going through the desert again was dumb in his mind.

"I will go back. Yellow and Brown are there so I can't just leave them afterall." Exploring was his plan, but in the end his base was the border of the forest and desert. He wouldn't abandon it. He worked on it for a while.

Nodding his head, Kir didn't say anything more. He would stay wherever Alem was as long as Nor and Eli stayed too.

It took them another two days of rushing before they finally arrived at the border. "A plains!" Nor said while falling onto the green grass in exhaustion.

Looking around, Alem noticed many animals grazing. There were little trees, but the boulders and small hills in the distance made up for it. He even noticed a bit of white a bit further away. "This world has a weird layout. Something is not right." Alem spoke to himself as he looked around. Despite all that he saw seeming normal, Alem knew that there were hidden secrets int his world. His gut told him everything was not normal.

"A camp." Eli appeared beside Alem and said in a low voice.

Seeing her near him after so long, Alem smirked. "Welcome back."

"Shut up." She said with a reddened frown. "I'm still not talking to you."

"Huh? Then what are you doing right now?" Laughing a little, he patted her on the head. "Don't worry, I'll go and check the area out." His body was mostly healed. It pricked to move his arm around, but nothing he couldn't handle. Plus, the wound essentially covered.

"Alone?" She asked with worry,

"Don't worry, now I have more weapons to work with. I can take everyone down myself." He lifted her bow and grabbed out five arrows. On his back was a large sword while around his waist was a whip and two daggers. He was covered in weapons.

"Let me come too." Kir, who was listening on the side, rushed over with an eager expression. "I feel I could help a lot."

"Me too." Salea also approached. Her goal was to get stronger either way.

"I'm just going to talk to them. Plus, more people will make them wary. Just stay back for now." He smiled and made his way towards the distant camp. "Just try and set up a camp on the border for me." He had some interest in border camps. The environment just looked cool to him.

"Alright." Nor trusted Alem's ability. Plus, being the second leader of the group, she had more speaking rights than others. Sometimes more than Alem.

Smiling, Alem walked an hour before reaching the camp.

"Who is it!" Unlike the camp Salea and Samir were in, this one was humungous. There were strong stone walls with fences on the outside holding animals. Alem could see many watch towers, and even ginormous horses. Unlike the two headed ones he saw before, these ones looked more normal. They were just much larger in size.

"Hey guys, I'm just here to chat." Alem didn't plan on attacking the place, nor did he mind doing so. He just wanted information on the surroundings. A map if possible.

"Chat? Then why are you carrying so many weapons? How many did you kill for those?" The man speaking to him was walking along the top of the walls. His face was difficult to make out since the walls were extremely high. "Just leave. We don't need any pellets from people anymore, so scram."

'This place is actually incredible. How were they able to build so much? It's been like two years.' He looked around in slight astonishment. "Trust me, I really just want information. Can't I just meet your faction leader?"

"You do know I can kill you for not leaving right? There aren't any laws." The man raised an eyebrow at Alem. Despite telling him to leave as a warning, he continued to stick back. Was he asking for death?

"By that logic, even the outside world doesn't have rules as long as you have the power. Yet, killing is limited. We're all limited by our morals. So, do me a favour this one time, please." Alem couldn't help but have a favourable impression of the man. He didn't attack right away and was very patient. 'I won't attack since you're such a good guy.'

The man thought for a moment before sighing. "Fine, I'll let the faction leader know. But, if she says no, then I can't do anything. Also, since we're fellow humans, I'll let you know our faction leader isn't. So, be careful." With that, the man walked away.

A few minutes later, Alem saw the large gates in front of him begin to push open. 'A non human? Let's see what this thing is.'

As the door's rumbled open, Alem took a few steps back. He felt very calm. Sure he was hurt before, but if then he killed everyone. He could repeat it again. Experience was the best weapon after all.

"So, you're are the guy asking for information?" With the doors completely pushed open, Alem noticed ten people approaching him. The one in the front was a muscular man with grey hair and black skin. Almost metallic. On his back were two pairs of wings, the first pair was made of flesh similar to the mans skin, while the second pair were grey wings. The latter didn't have any feathers, rather they seemed to have some sort of hairy exterior. The rest of the men were either the same as the one in the front, or their skin colours were different. Aside from that, there was no difference.

'A weird race.' Alem looked at them and felt slightly weirded out. Their wings were alright, but their faces were atrocious. His face was like metal, yet his eyes were empty sockets, and the mouth was slimy. "Yes, I just wanted to explore this whole test ground. After all, we have a thousand years, and that is an extremely long time. Might as well find something to do."

"I see." The leader looked Alem up and down before nodding his head. "A man of great skill I presume? Or are you a scavenger who just collects weapons?"

"I'm probably the most skilled person in this test ground." Alem didn't need to hide his strength nor his pride. What was the point? He had read many novels similar tot he scene in front of him. If he answered he was weak, he would chased away or attacked. If he acted cocky, the same would be done. It was how the world worked.

"Oh really? Better than George?" He asked with a straight face. Atleast to Alem it felt that way.

"Of course. Anyways, do you have a map by chance? I just want to travel." He could see the nine men looking at him with slight caution, yet they didn't make a move.

"Oh, do you know who I am?" The one in the lead asked.

"You're either Tirax or Linsal, right?" Since the second and third were non-humans, and they had a huge amount of points, then the one in front was either or. No way anyone else would have established such a large base.

"You really don't know me?" Though hard to notice, but the man's face showed a bit of surprise. "Well, I am a little embarrassed you don't know me, but I'm Linsal. And you are?"

"Alem."

"Oh, you're seventy third— now seventieth place? Hmm, how many in your faction?" Alem also noticed his factions position increase. Seemingly, three groups were destroyed or something similar.

"I have a total of…" He thought for a moment. "Including myself there are six people."

"A small group, huh?" Linsal sighed. "It's tough out there so I don't mind providing a map." Surprisingly he agreed without a hassle.

"Oh? Well that would be great." Alem found it a little off script, but as long as he got what he needed, it was for the best. "Out of curiosity, how many in your faction?"

"A hundred and three." Linsal didn't look at Alem and just waved at one of his men. "It's one of the larger factions, but our strength is weaker than Georges faction despite having more people. His group is very weird."

Seeing that Linsal wanted to talk, Alem didn't back down. The former waved for him to follow into the camp.

"You see, although I can't say for certain you're the strongest here, I know that you aren't weak. My instincts tell me to be wary of you, this isn't even a feeling I got from Tirax and George." Linsal didn't hide his thoughts. "Actually, I know who you are."

"Oh really?" Alem didn't know this man nor had he met any of his men before, atleast to his knowledge.

"I had men scout the Lord of Sand back then. Before they attacked you, they sent a scout back informing me of all groups present. They even described you. So, I know of that deed atleast." A smile appeared on his slimy mouth. "Why not join me with your faction? We're all collecting pellets to complete the first requirement, so wouldn't it be easier to get help from others?"

"I see, you stalker." Alem joked. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't care for the pellets honestly. If it wasn't for my faction members, I would just be living a life as a hermit or a journeyman. After all, I can get pellets whenever I want." He shrugged, boasting without a worry.

"Oh, how is it easy? Everyone is struggling." Linsal was intrigued.

"Just kill the ones who have the most, and you get a bunch, right?" Alem and Linsal finally arrived at a small hut. It was by the entrance, so Alem couldn't a lot of the base. What he did see was very impressive. The whole place was like a small town. 'These people really know how to work.'

"I see, that is an easy method, but only for someone like you." Linsal said with a sigh. "Unlike you, who killed a beast king alone, my group faced a few casualties on on the ones we faced. The first beast king we faced was a mountain goat that was larger than most trees. It's horns were extremely powerful, breaking stones as if they were leaves. We lost ten men in that fight." Linsal sighed.

"Rip." Alem said with a half joking manner. Life and death were really a normal thing to him now. He felt weird being able to joke about something like this when back on Earth, a single death was regarded as a huge deal. 'Am I sociopath at this point? Shameless really fucked me over this time.'

"Anyways, since you're unwilling, that's no big deal. Though, I recommend coming with me to the faction meeting that will occur in a year." Linsal pulled out a rolled piece of beast skin. "Tirax delivered this to most large faction through scouts." He passed it to Alem who began to look it over.

"Oh? Why are all of you making this test so political?' Alem found the idea slightly annoying. It was briefly mentioning the creation of potential trade routes, laws, etc. "This is a test which is literally based on killing, so shouldn't forget about rules this one time."

"You sound a lot like George right now, haha." Linsal suddenly laughed, his slimy mouth expanding like a pufferfish with each laugh.

"Well that makes sense to me." George and his group were likely Earth criminals. They despised the idea of laws and restrictions, so they would of course be against the letter. "Anyways, I won't be attending. Not like rules can stop me from doing anything."

"You're quite cocky, huh?" Though he said this, Linsal did not seem upset. "Honestly, I agree with you, but Tirax has the largest faction and possibly the strongest as well. George's faction is just good at strategic kills of beast kings, something we all lack in comparison."

"Again, this meeting doesn't matter to me. Though, I wouldn't mind setting up a trade with you." Alem suddenly smirked.

"Oh? What kind of trade?" Seeing the smirk on Alem's face, Linsal leaned in closely.

"Since you're such a nice guy, I think you and me can work a good trade route out." Alem passed the letter back and suddenly stood up. "Show me all the animals you are rearing. I'll give you an offer based on that."

Linsal nodded and lead Alem out of the hut. The two walked around for more then an hour. Alem saw dozens of various beasts. Each different from the ones he had.

"You guys have quite the collection." Alem spoke in a serious manner. His goal was mainly travelling, but finding new animals to rear was also a task he needed to accomplish.

"This is nothing. You should check out Tirax's base." Linsal laughed, feeling slightly prideful. "Anyways, what can you provide in exchange for these animals?" Linsal wasn't stupid.

"Give me a target." Alem suddenly said. "Make it difficult."

With the slimy mouth moving weirdly, Linsal pointed towards a tower on one end of the camp. "You see the metal pole up there? Hit that."

"Sure." Alem lifted his whip, rather than the bow. Wrapping an arrow at the end, narrowed his eyes and focused on the target. With a strong slap, the whip smacked the air, launching the arrow.

The arrow piercing through the air, causing the wind to cry loudly.

Everyone in the camp looked at the flying arrow, watching as it reached the tower.

CLANG

Linsal heard the noise ad jerked his head towards Alem. "You're crazy."

Shrugging with a calm expression. "It's what I do."

"I'm assuming you're offering to train my faction members?" Linsal had seen many things in his life. Some were even more impressive than what Alem had just done. Yet, this was still extremely impressive, almost shocking. The things he had seen in the past were done with cultivation, not raw skill.

"Nope." Alem smirked.

"Than?" He asked with a frown.

"Just wanted to show you my skills. Haha." Alem laughed a little. "Anyways, I'm offering to kill beast kings for you. Of course, only one beast king every two years."

"Every year, then we have a deal." Linsal knew this was a good deal. Alem was known as the 'Solo Faction' by every major faction leader, even George and Tirax. Everyone knew about the Lord of Sand battle. Whether Alem knew of his popularity or not, the world did. News spread fast, despite it being only about a week since the event.

"Nope, every two years is my limit. I want to travel around. Plus, if I kill one every two years, that's about five hundred right there, excluding the ones you guys kill yourself. Plus, there won't be any casualties." Alem wasn't dumb. If he killed one every year, then that would give him no time to rest.

"Deal." Linsal suddenly grabbed Alem's hand and quickly shook it. "Haha, take any animals you want."

Alem smirked at his excitement but shook his head. "I'll take some once I'm done traveling. Which will take quite a while." He suddenly looked into he air in a helpless manner. "If only a beast king would appear right now."

[System Notice!]

[Slither Dog has Evolved into Serpent Hound. Location…]

'Shameless, you really helping me out.' Alem smiled and then looked at Linsal. "Well, let me get this one done so I can adventure in peace for the next two years."

"No problem." Linsal looked at the location and frowned. "This one is a little close to a few major factions."

"Leave the beast king to me. You just make sure no one comes in my way, alright?" He wasn't going to try and face a bunch of factions and a beast king alone. He wasn't that much of idiot. He could only do so much.

"Fine, leave the factions to me." Linsal nodded hie head and suddenly flapped his wings. "Everyone, prepare to head out!" He roared loudly.

"YEAH!" The whole camp began to shake. The roars filled the skies.

Alem watched with a smirk.