Blackwing Blood Serpent [1]

It was an easy trade.

The boy sitting there learning the skills that would turn him into a master was definitely a valuable person in the rest city, but it wasn't a connection Gio necessarily needed to make, especially not at this moment. 

Speed and efficiency far outweighed the need for conversation. 

Gio presented the cup he took from the restaurant to the old man and simply requested a fingerprint cloning.

There were two sets of fingerprints on the cup, so Gio was also forced to have his own prints scanned so they could be differentiated. Nevertheless, a few scans, 5000 credits, and ten minutes later, Gio had what he needed.

'This is a complete replica of Seb's thumbprint.'

It existed on a thin sheet of paper currently safely contained within a casing. 

'I'm glad that I got some allowance.'

The money he was using now was, well, borrowed. 

The Old Lady gave him some funds to sustain himself, as he'd spent all his money before she learned of his plans. If everything went as he said, he would be rich soon enough, so repaying her wouldn't be a problem. 

'She won't be happy when she learns it's being spent like this, but… oh well.'

By now, Seb should have already seen that he left the restaurant, but he had been standing still for the past ten minutes, so it was likely that he only thought Gio was exploring and investigating.

'He hasn't come to find me yet. If I don't leave the vicinity, he won't come to find me any time soon.'

The walk leaving the building was much slower than the sprint to get there. 

Gio made it look casual in case Seb was checking his location actively, stopping every once in a while to observe the people around him. 

Slowly, he made his way back to the restaurant and passed it. He reached the truck parked in the lot and glanced around, making sure no one was watching. 

The cloned fingerprint left his pocket soon enough. He took it out of its casing and carefully draped the paper over his thumb, allowing it to mold to the correct shape. 

Only once it settled did he place his finger on the door handle. 

"Huu…"

He watched with bated breaths as a red light scanned over his finger. That single second felt like an eternity, but, in the end, the quality of the work he ordered was guaranteed. 

The light turned green, allowing him to enter the truck.

And, when he placed his finger on the ignition, the light was bound to turn green once more. 

Hummm!

The aetheric engine of the truck started with a low hum.

'The driver's seat is definitely not made for someone my size.'

He could barely see out the window and reach the pedals at the same time, but he had enough clearance to make it work. 

'Let's do this.'

The most difficult part of it all was getting out of the parking lot.

Once he was on the road, it was a straight shot to the goal.

He would meet the Blackwing Blood Serpent soon enough.

***

The Wilds weren't easy territory to navigate. 

It was hard to call it unmapped when there were satellites in the sky taking pictures of the world and turning them into maps. In the Strata above this one where society existed in a more orderly fashion, the young students of the worlds were presented these maps so they could learn about beast and monster habitats. 

For someone on the ground in the Wasteland, though, those maps were pretty much useless for directions. There was no way to tell one part of the Wilds apart from the other unless a drastic territory change was happening, but those were rare.

The maps of this place were best used to avoid the habitats of beasts and monsters one wanted to avoid. 

If one wanted to reach a specific destination, there were only two methods. One either needed the connections to get a vehicle with access to satellite data and connection, or the familiarity with the Wilds to travel its breadth without getting lost.

This truck did have access to satellite imagery and GPS, but it wouldn't be any good when the target destination was in the middle of nowhere.

'Realistically, the entirety of the Wasteland is probably stored in the [Memory Book]. The problem is that if I try to access that much information at once, my brain will explode.'

Gio's trait only had a single limit. He could only retrieve as much information as he could reasonably take. If his brain was overloaded, it wouldn't end well at all. 

If he went too far, he could even kill his brain entirely, leaving himself as a living corpse. 

Gio needed to find his way to that cave, and the most efficient method was to use [Memory Book] in pieces, putting together a makeshift map of the surrounding area. That way, he could roughly estimate where the cave was.

He traveled generally to the northwest while always keeping his eye on the map presented on the truck's main screen. The scenery around him slowly became less flat. The dunes reappeared, but they were outnumbered by a vast array of mountains that spattered the horizon. 

'It's around here.'

He had seen images of the cave and its vicinity before. He knew what special features to look for. 

'Originally, the people who found the cave weren't attracted by the serpent. They saw a tree that bore bright red fruits that looked like apples made of ruby. The fruits had been picked by the time pictures were taken, but that tree isn't easy to ignore.'

It also wasn't hidden at all. It existed completely in the open, free of any harm or hostility from the surrounding fauna.

Only after the first group of Scavengers approached did they realize why it could exist like that. 

'If I keep driving here, I should…'

Gio's thoughts halted midway. 

He spotted it in the distance. It was over twenty feet tall and looked like a palm tree, only, its trunk was a bright purple-green color and its leaves were a deep crimson. 

Hanging from where its leaves branched out were three of those ruby-red fruits Gio was looking for. 

And hidden within what looked like a large dune behind it was that cave. 

'It took two hours to get here. If Seb was checking even semi-consistently, he had to have found me moving at least an hour ago. I need to act fast.'

He hid the truck in a corner so it wouldn't draw attention and stepped out.

Immediately, he was struck by the winds of the Wilds. With the mountains that existed all around, the draft picked up much more speed, bringing along with it a cloud of sand and dust. 

Gio rapidly covered his face with the protective mask the Old Lady forced him to bring. Holding his hand over his eyes, he approached the tree.

'If it's awake, it'll sense any disturbance in the tree's state and come out to attack. That's how the first group who found this place died.'

Still a distance away, he unholstered his gun and aimed at the ground near the tree.

Bang!

He let off only a single shot. 

It was quieter than the hot weapons of the past, but the sound was still considerable enough to alert anything within ten meters.

The sand near the tree kicked up. One could hear a subtle "Thunk!" as the bullet struck a tree root. 

Immediately, Gio retreated and hid behind a nearby rock formation. 

And he waited.

And waited. 

Until he was certain that no response would come. 

'Right.'

He grinned.

It was just as he expected. 

The year became 3006 a few months back, but it was still winter. 

And, more importantly, if what Gio knew about the Blackwing Blood Serpent was correct, then the first three months of the year constituted its brumation period. 

Back then, it was during this same period when humans were able to both take the treasures of that tree and kill this beast.

That was something meant to happen several years in the future, but a well-planned imitation was taking place in the present. 

A boy arrived before the cave of the Blackwing Blood Serpent during its brumation season. 

He checked if it was truly unconscious and entered that cave, gripping the bag holding the weapon he prepared.

This was the moment he had been anticipating for so long. 

And he had no plans to mess up the execution at this point.