Expedition. (5)

Kumkani walked over to the where the defeated Goblins were, looking for and finding the staff, before ripping the jewel out and placing it in his rucksack, before disappearing down the alley to find where the surviving Goblins went to before being hunted down and killed by the wolves. Luckily, there was a blood trail, and he indeed found the weapons on the ground. Unfortunately, the Rune was depleted as they tried to defend themselves against the wolves, however Kumkani took it anyway.

'Hanging out in the open here is dangerous, I need to find a lair asap.'

Kumkani quickly left, and his search was quite the ordeal. The number of creatures he came across that were either jostling for territory, or hunting for food, and Kumkani made sure to observe the battles from a safe place, watching their habits and fighting styles and making a note of it all. Slipping into the Mind Realm to jot down notes in short hand a line at a time was mentally grueling, but he had no choice to do it like that, as he didn't have the time to safely enter and take his time. After a considerable amount of time walking around and searching, Kumkani found a restaurant with a partially collapsed roof, however it contained basement level. It was vacant and untouched, as if it had yet to be discovered by the current occupants of the city. There was no power, but it wasn't necessary, as Kumkani pulled glow sticks out from his rucksack and dumped them all around. He set up a small paraffin stove, on which he placed a tin of corned beef to heat up, and ate it with bread. It was the first moment of respite he had gotten in six hours, and his body was definitely feeling it. As he ate the corned meat with bread – soft foods only on account of his throat – Kumkani looked over the Runes he had obtained from the Goblin staves.

'These don't use Mana in the traditional sense.' He noted. 'They are charged items, like batteries. I saw something similar in a Beta Level Dimension, and I believe they were called Runes. Should be alright to call them Runes here, as well. I couldn't sense any Mana in this part of the Zone, but only actively trying to absorb some will confirm this either way.'

Kumkani, having finished his meal, moved upstairs quietly, making sure to check to see if nothing had found his lair. Once he confirmed that was the case, he took a moment to close his eyes and focus. It looked as though he was meditating, however what he was actually doing was trying to find even the slightest bit of Mana in the Zone. As much as he didn't dedicate all that long to it, it was more than enough time to determine that there was no Mana to be absorbed from the surroundings.

'At some point, I may have to find a Goblin encampment and steal all of their Runes… but considering how weak I am at the moment, that might require me to wait for a few days.'

Kumkani then went back downstairs and pulled a number of makeshift blood bags from his rucksack and made his way back upstairs. This was the blood he had been collecting over the past week, and there was a considerable amount. After obscuring the pin with his slinged arm – something he would do each time he interacted with the circle – he proceeded to draw a rather large Magic Circle on the ground floor of the building, without joining the circle completely.

'I only have a single drop of Primordial Blood left. I can't rely on rats or the like in here, so I have to take the risk and lure a powerful creature in here. Hopefully, there's enough blood in here to fuel this Circle.'

Once he was done with drawing the Magic Circle on the floor, Kumkani put the remaining blood away, before walking out and making his way back out into the Zone. Having looked at the display from the pin, he found that he had been in the Zone for close to eight hours, meaning his shift had four hours remaining. The pin had also logged his movements and distance covered, as well as mapped the areas he had been in. He continued moving through the shadows, listening out for and following the sounds of combat in order to do more scouting, as well as seeing if there were any monster races he had yet to encounter. He continued to come across the same races, Goblins, Kobolds, wolves, and even a few leopards and jaguars – all considerably larger than regular animals. Suddenly, the sound of combat caught Kumkani's attention, mainly because he heard Human voices.

'Which Venators made it in here with me?' He asked himself.

He was curious enough to go and check it out, however he was stopped mid commute by a shockwave so potent, it actually sent a chill down his spine as his own instincts, not just Horatio's screamed at him that some very powerful creatures were engaged in combat.

'This is a chance. Maybe some weaker creatures will be around for me to tame.'

Kumkani then darted towards the direction that the shockwave had come from, having decided to forgo his usual caution while running towards the battle site, thinking he wanted to get there before it was over and whatever stragglers that were caught in the crossfire died. The more Kumkani ran towards the battlefield, the more his surroundings changed, with the plants which were simply creepers and the like, changing and becoming more robust. Full blown trees had split from beneath all of the tarmac and concrete and grown tall and proud, like corpse flower signifying the death of the old world. The smell of plant life grew ever stronger, and soon enough, wild flowers filled the once bustling streets, as if purposely replacing whatever traces of humanity still lingered. There was no time to think on it further, as Kumkani entered what was once an intersection with a turning circle, and soon as he did, a large feline-like creature flew right past him and crashed into a building to his left. He looked to his right and saw an equally massive serpent-like thing with a hood, entirely too many teeth, and a hood like a cobra that doubled up as a pair of wings. It was flapping them as it hovered in the air.

'Looks like I've come too close to the battlefield, however neither of these creatures will even notice me.'