Seed of Titan-Chapter 159: Bound for the Jungle

Drai sped vertically along the cliff wall, passing by his usual leaping spot before stopping, hovering in the sky above with an unrestrained grin on his face.

"I thought the view from up here would be similar to the sight when I’m in my giant form, but having no support whatsoever under my feet really adds to the experience. Damn, this makes me want to tame that big birdie more—I’d practically have unlimited flight duration if I could make him my mount. Well, I suppose I can try catching him when I spot him again since I can fly too now. Heh, just you wait, birdie."

Looking at the skill’s duration, Drai saw he had under six minutes left.

"I’ve only been flying around a minute, haven’t I? Even with the double expenditure, I should have more than ten minutes left. Looks like the timer is halved when flight is in effect—what a useful minor feature. Now, let’s test the energy blast."

Having no instructions, Drai emulated a generic form he’d seen in TV shows. He extended his arm and pointed his palm toward the hill below before picturing a powerful energy missile shooting out of it.

Almost instantly, a white energy ball launched from his palm toward the hill.

Drai watched his missile go with a delighted face.

"Cool! That wasn’t ha—"

Interrupting his celebratory remark was a massive white explosion. After being blinded by the light, a powerful shockwave hit him, sending him tumbling away in the air. And as if that wasn’t startling enough, a notification popped up right after.

[Warning—Nova Flux terminated. Remaining cooldown: 13 minutes 24 seconds]

The white aura enveloping him disappeared, and Drai began to lose elevation.

"Shit!"

With his body rapidly approaching the ground, Drai hurriedly activated Nexus Augmentation to the max. Seconds later, he finally slammed into the earth, creating an explosion that showered the vicinity with clumps of dirt, grass, and rocks.

Drai slowly crawled out of the deep crater, covered in dirt from head to toe. His clothes had also been ripped to shreds by the impact, leaving him almost naked.

"Phew! That was close..." he remarked in relief as he lay there, depressing the soil under his body due to his increased weight.

"Damn, this new augmentation has crazy good defense—even falling from 300 meters didn’t hurt at all."

Drai raised his arm that was now gleaming under the sun and slapped it, producing a dull clang.

"So this is the alteration effect at the max... My muscles are so dense, it’s almost like steel. My body should be totally stiff with this kind of constitution, but I can still move fine. I guess not only the density had been altered but also the structure or composition."

Drai deactivated his augmentation, and his muscles instantly reverted to normal. He then got up and walked toward the hill from before.

As he neared his destination, he discovered that his training spot was gone, replaced by a vast crater. The small hill seemed to have been completely decimated, leaving no trace at all.

"Ahah... Note to self—no more full-power energy blasts," Drai muttered before leaving the area, heading to another training spot that wasn’t too far. Along the way, he contemplated the test results.

"Flying was easy, but I still need to create aerial maneuvers for attacking and defending and test them out in combat. I might have to ask Max to help me with this. For the energy blast, I need to familiarize myself with the different output levels. I should probably start with the minimum output and gradually increase the power from there.

"That’s probably all for Nova Flux. For Nexus Augmentation, I need to find out if flash-triggering it is feasible. If not, I’ll have to practice a lot of leaping and flying attacks to effectively use it—at least for the higher levels. Too bad I can’t test it out in an urban setting. I bet it would provide sturdier footing than this soft ground."

Shortly after, Drai arrived at a small forest and began his training, focusing on mastering his new abilities.

***

Seven days later in the camp...

"Check your stuff again, Drai. You might’ve forgotten something."

"Why are you worrying so much, Max? Other than some provisions and supply, I’m only bringing your special rope and a few spare clothes with me, and they’re all here." Drai tapped his storage bracelet, looking amused.

"Well, you can’t be too careful with your preparation. It’s quite a long journey after all," Max said, still looking concerned.

"What long journey? It’ll only take a few days, though if I still had my Colossal Augmentation, I could probably make a round trip in less than a day, not counting the hunting time of course."

"Heh. You’re getting cockier by the day, lad. I guess it comes with having an overpowered class."

Max’s remark wasn’t unreasonable. During their last spar, Drai was able to evenly match him. Although both of them hadn’t gone all out, it was still an impressive feat.

Drai chuckled. "I’m not being cocky, Max. I’m just being realistic."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, go—shoo," Max lightheartedly ordered, waving his hand dismissively.

Drai simply smiled at him before walking to Horsie and rubbing his head.

"Stay with Max and be a good boy, okay? I’ll be back in a few days."

Horsie neighed unwillingly and nudged Drai, forcing him back a few steps. During the past week, the foal had been getting larger and sturdier relatively fast, perhaps due to Drai’s improved cooking. He had stopped wobbling whenever he walked, and his muscles were also beginning to bulge in several places.

"If you behave, I’ll cook you a special meal with new ingredients from the jungle after I return. If not, Max will be the one cooking from now on."

Hearing this, Horsie immediately relented and rubbed his head against Drai.

"Good boy... After you grow a bit more, let’s go for a ride and visit your family, okay?"

After petting Horsie a few more times, Drai was finally ready to depart.

"See ya, Max."

"Don’t die, lad."

"Heh. I don’t think fate would let me, but thanks," Drai cryptically said before disappearing from sight, leaving Max pondering.

Exiting Misty Forest, Drai was greeted by the gentle morning sunlight. He took a deep breath, absorbing the overwhelmingly fresh air.

Gazing at the golden horizon, he muttered, "I’ll definitely miss this feeling after I return to civilization..."

Drai then put the virtual map up and refreshed his memory, mainly concerning the notable landmarks and creatures he might pass by along his journey. Not long after, he closed the interface and began walking.

Drai’s pace was neither fast nor slow as he aimed to preserve his stamina in case he encountered aggressive animals. However, his first few hours had been relatively smooth. He only had to track back a few kilometers due to missing a crucial checkpoint where he should’ve shifted northwest.

Drai also caught a few fanged hares that he spotted darting across a mound-filled area. They were now tied dead around his waist, ready to be butchered for lunch.

The second quarter of his journey was a bit different, as he started to encounter larger carnivores and hostile beast herds, forcing him to fight. The battles were uneventful though—most had ended under ten seconds, and none had taken more than half a minute to finish. This was due to Drai’s fully utilizing Nexus Augmentation and Nova Flux together, which made his attacks undefendable and lethal for all his opponents. The longer fights usually involved large herds that needed to see more than a few dead brethren of theirs to finally realize the nearly-hairless, bipedal beast’s might and scurry away in terror.

Drai had also taken his time after the larger battles to butcher the animals he just killed and the carcasses he had been keeping with him. He only stored the most valuable cuts though, as his dimensional storage would soon be too full to keep anymore materials, especially with the increasing encounter rate. Afterward, he would stack the rest of the butchered parts into a large organic mound, hoping that other animals would scavenge it so that the materials wouldn’t go to waste.

When the sun was at its highest point, Drai stopped under a cluster of giant boulders to rest. He set up a small fire to roast some meat while waiting for the sun to set a bit and relieve the heat. The smell of cooked meat attracted a few predators, but Drai only needed to augment himself to the limit and powerfully clap with his hardened hands to frighten them. With his storage brimming with the finest meat cuts, he didn’t have much reason to slay these drooling intruders, especially since the carnivores here usually tasted worse than the herbivores, which was something that Drai couldn’t really wrap his head around.

More than an hour later, Drai finally cleaned up the temporary camp and resumed his travel.

After some time, the scenery started to change. The meadows’ tall grass began to clear up, while shrubs and small trees started popping up here and there.

Drai checked out his map and saw that he was close to exiting the meadows. He then continued walking under the afternoon sky until he finally reached a major checkpoint.

Drai stood there in awe, gazing at the twinkling sunlight scattered across a vast river that spanned kilometers wide right in front of him.

"So this is the Endless Blue..."