A month passed since Thirteen and Cristopher had been sent to the world of Solterra.
Although they experienced many ups and downs, the two managed to overcome all of them with the help of Brutus and Bruno, who tag-teamed to annihilate any Rank 1 Monsters that fell for Thirteen's and Cristopher's taunting, triggering them to run in the pair's direction, only to fall into the pitfalls traps that they created.
After the Monster had fallen to their traps, Christopher would summon Brutus and Bruno, who would deal the finishing blow to the Monster that never stood a chance against their overwhelming might.
The number of Monsters they had slain was nearing three digits, but the number of items that Cristopher gained was pitifully low.
Despite killing over seventy monsters, they only gained three items.
The first one was the Purple Stinger, which was currently in Thirteen's possession.
The second one was Spiked Bronze Mace which came from a Spiny Bronze Anteater, which was a very tough cookie to crack.
Out of the Monsters they had killed, it was this monster that made Thirteen, Cristopher, Brutus, and Bruno work together, with everything in their power, to kill it.
It was one of the Rank 2 Monsters that had wandered near the Oasis, and its defenses were very tough.
Fortunately, its underside wasn't as tough as its exterior, so the moment Bruno succeeded in flipping it over, its fate had been sealed.
Its death allowed Brutus to have a good weapon that had a small chance of paralyzing its target the moment its spikes made contact with its body.
Last but not the least was a black spear called Night Piercer, which Cristopher acquired from a Black Scorpion that had wandered too close at their makeshift base during the night. They didn't see it right away since it came from behind the boulder, the blindspot in their field of vision.
Fortunately, Brutus and Bruno were on night duty, so they immediately eliminated the threat before it could attack the two sleeping children, who were woken up the moment the two Brute Monsters unleashed their warcries and started to clobber the poor Scorpion silly.
All the weapons they got were Bronze Grade Equipment, so they didn't have any problems equipping them.
Since Thirteen was now considered a True Wanderer after declining the Laplace Demon's offer to return to Pangea, he was now able to use Bronze-Grade Equipments as well, just like Cristopher.
"Just a little more, and Brutus will evolve into a Rank 2 Monster," Thirteen said as he ate some barbecued scorpion meat.
He made sure that Brutus cut off the Scorpion's stinger, so the venom wouldn't make the rest of its meat poisonous.
Also, since they had venom at the ready, Thirteen dipped their makeshift weapons into it, especially the wooden spears, as well as the wooden arrows, making them more potent in battle.
Since Cristopher wasn't part of his family, he couldn't bestow upon him any Martial Techniques that he could use to become stronger in Solterra.
He was already planning to negotiate with the Laplace Demon and The One to add Hans and Cristopher to the people allowed to benefit from his abilities after he cleared the "Thirteen Trials" that had been forced upon him by his father, the System God.
However, since the chubby boy needed something to help him survive, Thirteen decided to teach him how to throw spears and basic spear footwork that he could use if the enemy managed to close in on him.
Cristopher didn't really want to fight enemies in close combat and preferred to use range weapons.
But they didn't have bows and arrows, so Thirteen decided to temporarily teach him how to throw the wooden spears in their collection.
During the past week, Cristopher did nothing but throw one spear after the other, with the younger boy giving him pointers. Slowly but surely, his range and accuracy improved.
Thirteen also taught him the basics of blocking, deflecting, and stabbing.
For this, Thirteen asked Brutus to become Cristopher's sparring partner since the monsters that were commonly seen in the Desert were two meters tall and above.
The chubby boy needed to get used to fighting bigger monsters in order to get a chance to survive if something managed to get past Thirteen's, Brutus', and Bruno's defenses.
Finally, after another half a month had passed, Brutus managed to reach the required number of Monster Cores to evolve to the next Rank.
The moment Brutus became a Rank 2 Monster, its features became sharper, and there were even black tattoos that appeared on its arms and chest.
It looked more intimidating than before, and with two Rank 2 Monsters as their bodyguards, Thirteen felt that it would be a good time to head North and enter the territory of the Orcs.
But just as they were about to do that, a monster, which they hadn't seen for a long time, appeared near the Oasis.
It was none other than the Yellow Striped Dusk Brute.
Thirteen and Cristopher looked at the Monster and exchanged a glance with each other.
Cristopher was very wary of this monster, knowing that Brutus and Bruno were not fast enough to avoid its Poisonous Spray.
The moment the Monster died, their Avatar would also shatter, and would not be usable again.
There were no ways to repair an Avatar, and the Monster's death was final.
The only saving grace was that if one of his Brute Type Monsters died, he would be able to capture a new Brute Type Monster of that species.
However, Thirteen had a feeling that Cristopher wasn't the type to treat his summoned Monsters like disposable tools that he could discard whenever he wanted.
He didn't want the chubby boy to have this kind of mindset either since once one started thinking in this direction, it would be very hard to stop.
Thirteen pondered long and hard before coming up with a decision.
"Cristopher," Thirteen said. "Let's do this."
"… Understood, Young Master," Cristopher replied.
There was still hesitation in his voice, but he trusted Thirteen enough to listen to his orders.
"Don't worry, I won't let Brutus or Bruno die," Thirteen stated. "We now have what it takes to beat that thing."
Cristopher nodded as he listened to the plan that Thirteen had made in order to defeat one of the most dangerous Rank 2 Monsters, whose venom could easily kill both of them before they could even regret their life choices.
