A dour expression was on Barry's face as he looked over the paltry graves he'd built. The rough, rocky soil was not good for digging, so he'd ploughed only shallow pits and then gathered rocks to stack on top of the decaying corpses.

He was not a religious man, nor had he known these people, so he didn't have any words that needed to be spoken. Instead he just stared at them for a while as he processed his emotions.

It wasn't so much the thought that he'd been too late to help these people - he had no idea when exactly they may have died, and he could hardly hold himself responsible for every death on the continent. But he had to wonder how many others would have died in similar circumstances. Or how many were about to die, were crying out for help even now, hoping that somehow, against all odds, an unknown saviour would come to the rescue.

But more immediate was the thought of his family. On a rational level, he knew that coming across these corpses did not make it any more likely that they would be in danger, or worse, that they would have already suffered the same fate. He'd already known that this was a dangerous world and that they may well be forced to fight.

This changed nothing. Except, that it put a picture in his head, a deeply unwanted visual of the three of them in this savannah, surrounded by savage porcupines.

How would they even react to a situation like that? Would Jasmine and his mother hide behind his father's back, or would they sharpen sticks and join the fight, kicking and stabbing? Would they fight reluctantly, with tears in their eyes, or with the fierceness of a cornered animal?

In any case, it must have changed them, he thought with a pang of sadness. It had changed him, too, after all. He could only hope that Jasmine, at least, would be able to keep some of her innocence.

The thought of what he might find when he finally found them had been constantly with him since the first day of this Reset. But those expectations had been quite black-and-white; either he would find them alive and well, or they would be dead. Now, they were being colored with nuance, and not in a way that he liked. The possibility that he would find them alive, but irrevocably changed, brought more unhappy scenarios to worry about.

There was another image that he'd been holding in his mind, a blatantly naive one that he cherished nonetheless - that of a happy reunion with his family. A future where they hugged and cried, where his mother whispered sweet nothings in his ear and told him everything would be alright. It was a fantasy, of course, but in those rare instances where he dared to allow himself a sliver of hope, that was the image that he held onto.

The unforgiving truths he was coming to face with now, were bringing cracks to that image. How could Jasmine simply be hanging around his waist, crying tears of joy? That would be what the old Jasmine would have done, the one that still held her innocence. A Jasmine that had seen firsthand all the ugly things this new world had to offer would approach differently. More hesitantly, with the careful caution of a wounded animal. She might not even cry, in fear of appearing weak or childish - that seed of defiance had always been in her, he thought, and in this cursed world it may well have bloomed.

He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of those dark thoughts. In truth, that scenario was still infinitely better than many of the other likely outcomes. He just wanted to naively hold on to that sliver of hope.

With a deep sigh, he strapped his MAFT back on his back and set out for the next zone. It would be two yellow zones, followed by two orange ones before it transitioned back to yellows and greens.

He still kept a lookout for signs of people as his speed increased close to his maximum, but there was nothing to be seen.

The first yellow zone was a pine forest populated by packs of wolves which he cut through with ease, wishing they had mutated more than just larger claws and muzzles, so that he didn't feel like he was casually slaughtering an endangered species. He didn't go too far out of his way to kill these beasts though; it would impact his traveling speed without many benefits. There was much more Value to be had in the orange zones ahead.

The next one was a swamp full of husky-sized insects which he blasted through quickly, until he came to a halt as he spotted the first of the orange zones.

So far, the zones he'd come across had all been variations of natural biomes on earth, sometimes mixing the fauna and flora of different ones together. These environments even repeated, and he expected that most of the beasts might also be found across multiple zones.

But this next zone was completely alien, unlike anything he'd ever seen. The ground was covered in small, undulating purple tendrils that reminded him of sea anemones. Instead of trees, there were bulbous scarlet growths that resembled mushroom heads, here attached to long, spindly trunks and there sitting on the ground between the bedding of purple anemones. Further in, he could spot other things that he assumed to be plants, but were nothing like any of the plant life he knew from Earth.

The only explanation he could think of, was that they'd taken an alien biome and dumped it right in between the 'normal' zones where the animals and plants might be mutated, but were still recognizable as native species. Why they might have chosen to do that was a mystery to him.

As he took a testing step into the zone, the violet tendrils pulled back from his foot, hiding into small, tough bulbs that covered the ground. He steered clear of the giant, red balloon-like growths and, when he noticed one of them contracting slightly, he retreated out of the zone and searched the System Store for something like a gas mask.

After getting an air filter for fifty Value, he strapped it on and set to exploring this alien landscape. He walked slowly, observing the inscrutable interactions between these basic alien lifeforms. As he watched, one of the anemone clusters sprayed out a small cloud of fine crystals, which landed on an opening leaf of a larger plant, shaped like a fern but entirely translucent, without any signs of fibrous material to hold it together. That leaf absorbed the crystal and in turn released a few drops of liquid, which dropped down and were then absorbed by the anemone.

Barry shook his head in slack-jawed awe, having to force himself to pick up the pace. He could spend weeks here, taking notes on the odd behaviours and unknown characteristics of these alien lifeforms, but this was not the time for investigation.

Movement caught his attention when he entered a forest of the tall alien mushrooms and he activated [Halt Waves - Sphere] and [Camouflage], having progressed to the point where he could keep the latter Ability active while moving at a jog.

Looking through the wide spaces between the lines of thin, red trunks, he spotted a huge beast that was decidedly alien. A long, bloated body floated between the trunks, six long tentacles extending from its sides down to the ground. A neckless head protruded from the central body, its smaller tentacles and large, segmented eyes making it look like a cross between a squid and a fly.

Barry noticed even more movement on the ground, which a closer look revealed to be from a pack of smaller, more insect-like creatures that swarmed across the ground. When he saw one of them rear up and feed something into one of the floating beast's tentacles, he realized they had to be drones of some kind.

As he approached, the drones continued crawling over the soil in search of whatever nutrients were to be found here, oblivious to his existence. But then suddenly, something changed. The floating creature jerked and twisted around until it was facing him and then it let out a low rumbling sound.

In unison, the fox-sized drones turned and scuttled in his direction. The floating being began to inflate rapidly, its bulbous body growing even larger as its face puckered in somehow. Tension was visibly building across its bulk and he took a step back, fearing for a moment that it would explode. Then he saw its maw open and he threw up a quick [Reflect Momentum], just barely in time to catch the sharp projectile it spat at him.

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It continued to fire and he wondered if he should try to rush at it, but then he noticed it was visibly deflating with each shot. From the draw on his PE Capacity he thought he would be able to outlast it, so he held the invisible shield and summoned his blades, waiting until it ran out of air.

A low slash easily cut through the first of the drones to reach him, then after its last shot he exploded forward, blades pointing down as he swerved between the drones. He carved through them, using quick low cuts to kill them by the score. When they clustered together he spun in a low crouch, legs and heads flying as he mowed through them.

He swerved to the left and picked up speed as he approached the floating beast, seeing that it was inflating again. It was at least fifteen feet up, but he flexed his legs and leapt even higher, cutting through its side as he came down. He backed away then, worried what might come out of it, but it just rumbled as it tilted to one side, then slowly dropped to the ground. Another cut through the head was enough to kill it.

The System seemed to count the drones as a lower threat than the bulbous mother-alien, granting only 10 Value per drone compared to 160 Value for the larger one. Still, with thirty drones that was not a bad haul.

But this zone made him uneasy, worried that something unexpected could pop out and kill him. To begin with, he had not the slightest clue of how these alien creatures could have detected him. Some obscure sense, perhaps, or a way for the anemones he stood on to communicate his presence to the other beings? Beyond that, he would have no resistances at all against alien bacteria and viruses. Or venom, for that matter. A single scratch might be enough to kill him, unaware as he was of these threats and potential countermeasures.

So Barry hurried through the rest of this eerie zone, staying well clear of anything that looked suspicious as he kept his air filter on and Abilities up. It was a large zone, but with his impressive Speed it took less than two hours to get through.

"Now that looks familiar," Barry said as he entered the next zone and spotted the familiar red-brown shades of sand and cracked rocks.

He crouched down, picking up a handful of sand and letting it run through his fingers. It was exactly the same as the zone he'd started in, over a month ago. For a moment there was a trickle of paranoid fear, imagining that he would find himself having somehow run in a circle, ushering in the next dimension of this convoluted INUU scheme.

But this was not the same zone he'd started in, of course. There were no cliffs and each zone that bordered it was different.

"I wonder if…"

He stomped down on the ground a few times, then toggled on [Direct Manipulation - Sound] and dropped a few imaginary tendrils in the ground.

"No way," he breathed as after a few seconds, he sensed the familiar vibrations in the ground.

When a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon not long after, it felt like rewatching a movie he'd been deathly scared of as a kid. The memory itself was associated with fear, but when you saw the movie again, you realized it wasn't scary anymore.

No, he corrected himself with a grin, it's more like facing a childhood bully.

"Hey buddy. It's been a while. I think it's time you and I had a little chat," he said to the growing cloud of sand as he summoned his blades.

With a worried look up at the sky, he did decide to activate [Camouflage] as well as [Halt Waves - Sphere]. For all his tough talk, he did not fancy getting snatched by one of those monstrous birds again.

With his Senses higher than last time, it was easier to track the moving Roid-Bull, but he still had no hopes of matching its ridiculous speed. But it was a trivial matter to cast some fake footsteps to his left as he lifted his blades.

Marking its speed of approach and making some quick mental calculations, he crouched, then leapt as he swept his blade up. For the first time, the creature's hide was tough enough to push the blade back, but he was ready, twisting along with the motion in a somersault before landing on the sand.

Barry noted with a grin that there was a thin line of blood on the blade in his left hand. But as he looked back, the Roid-Bull didn't show any signs of injury as it turned and prepared for the next rush. Once more, he cast sounds to his left, wanting to hit the same side again.

Again, he sliced up as it passed, spinning along with the momentum of its passing push against the blade. Another line of blood on his white scimitar, but still no signs of a deeper wound.

He was targeting the tendons in its leg, cutting right on the inside of its thigh where it connected to its torso, but the beast was damn tough. Soon, it would realize that-

Barry cursed as it reared up and stomped down, repeating the motion until chunks of broken stone began to form at its feet. He'd hoped to have one more chance at crippling it before it changed tactics.

He quickly cast a pane of [Reflect Momentum] in front of him as a line of rocks began to rise in front of the Roid-Bull. The stones blasted forward, taking a chunk out his PE Capacity as some hit his shield. The beast rushed ahead at the same time, but swerved slightly to Barry's position, heading to where the stones had been stopped. He adjusted, leaping up higher and then cutting down in a spinning slash, again targeting the right leg.

He'd misjudged its trajectory slightly, still landing a cut but getting knocked aside as his shoulder connected with its torso. Despite the small contact surface, it was enough to violently shove him away so that he went flopping through the air and tumbling over the sand. He'd had to let go of his blades to avoid cutting himself and now rushed to collect them as the Roid-Bull set to producing another batch of projectiles.

But there was finally a change in its movements - its back leg was struggling to carry its weight.

This time, Barry cast [Reflect Momentum] a few yards in front and to the left of him. That put him right in the trajectory of the shooting rocks, but right before it fired them off, he simply jumped as high as he could.

The projectiles all passed below him and fell down as they encountered [Reflect Momentum]. The Roid-Bull rushed towards that location, momentum slowing as its head snapped out at thin air. It was already slowing down as it passed underneath, right as he was coming down.

Both blades stuck in the huge beast's back as he landed on top of it and he held firm, letting his weight and momentum pull them down through the tough skin. He was pulled along as he hung from its side, feet skipping over the sand until the Roid-Bull came to a stop and he pushed his feet off its side to wrench the blades loose.

It twisted and snapped its head out at him, but he was already slashing up as he ducked underneath, cutting a bloody line across its neck. It reared up, roaring with fury, so he dove forward and cut again at its wounded back leg. It buckled, but a twist of its body knocked him away, once again tumbling over the sand as he lost one his blades.

He got back to his feet in a flash, feeling dizzy but holding his blade at the ready. To his confusion, the Roid-Bull just stood there looking at him. A faint sound had him glancing over his shoulder and then throwing up another [Reflect Momentum] as he spotted rocks streaking at him from behind. A single rock passed before he got it up and clipped him in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground with a cry of pain.

The beast made to rush forward but was forced to stop as its wounded leg failed to keep up, snapping out at him instead. He ducked and rolled, gritting his teeth against the pain from his shoulder as he got back to his feet. Its massive jaw snapped out again and again, biting blindly at the air. Even so close, it was easy for him now to just dodge and cut.

The first downward slash slid off its neck with another line of blood and split skin, but then he twisted as he ducked underneath the next predictable strike, bringing his blade all the way around in a heavy slash with all of his Strength and weight behind it.

Finally, its flesh gave way and he felt his blade scrape against bone. Blood pumped from the gash as its head dropped, but he wasn't about to underestimate it. Leaving all elegance behind, he cut down in vicious chops, hacking at its neck in the same spot until finally the bone cracked and he sliced all the way through.

Its head dropped fully down to the ground as Barry fought to catch his breath, covered in splatters of blood.

Well done! You killed a higher-tiered threat!

Threat level: Tier 9

Subject level: Tier 7

Total Value awarded: 1920 (640 Base * 3 Multiplier)

Would you like to loot its body?

He waited a bit before confirming, first looking over the Roid-Bull's massive fallen body as he poked at his injured shoulder. These beasts had looked so untouchable, even after he came out of the cave. But now he'd managed to kill one with his own hands. He wondered how many people would be capable of that, as he considered the other groups he'd come across. None of them came even close. It might be rare to find people that had gone through as severe a transformation as he had, but he did think some had to be out there.

As more clouds of dust began to appear on the horizon, he clicked confirm, put up his Abillities and moved away to find a place to heal up. He'd proven that he could kill them, but it was still an impressive and dangerous beast. A single slip up would have killed him in that fight. He wasn't quite ready to repeat that at the moment.

Besides, I can always come back here, he thought as he opened his map, focusing on the first of the three MAFTs he was targeting, now only ten zones away.

There were more important matters to take care of first.

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