WHOOSH
Rui leaped off the cliff and dived straight down the cliff, plummeting hundreds of feet from above the ground. He inhaled deeply as he prepared a Tempestuous Ripple as he reached the ground.
WHOOSH
He released a Tempestuous Ripple downwards as he canceled his momentum, landing perfectly on the ground. It wasn't that falling from such a great height would kill him with his defensive techniques, but it certainly would hurt. He was far away from the Kandrian Empire and it was best he avoided anything that would affect his condition.
He pulled out a compass as he began jogging in the direction of the core of the Serevian Plateau. He had memorized the map of the Serevian Plateau that the mission bill had provided, thankfully. He couldn't afford to get distracted from his surroundings while travelling in an environment as dangerous as the Serevian Plateau.
"SCREEEEEETCH." A painful high-pitch screeching roar drew his attention as a large figure dashed at him with remarkable speed.
WHOOSH
Rui dodged it as he tried to get a better look at the creature that had suddenly attacked him.
('A darkhide lizard.') Rui recognized the creature. He had memorized all of the known native fauna species that inhabited the Serevian Plateau. It was a dangerous predator with an incredibly powerful bite force and potent acid for saliva that allowed it cut through its prey's body effortlessly.
What surprised Rui was how incredibly swift it was. It could keep up with him despite the four Apprentice-level techniques he was using to evade it. It was not a low Apprentice-level beast.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Rui evaded it time after time as it lashed out after him.
BOOM!!
He landed a powerful Flowing Canon, amplified by Flame Breathing, Outer Convergence, Vital Pressure as well as the momentum generated by his three maneuvering techniques. It was his most powerful attack as far as impact went.
Furthermore, Rui used Reverberating Lance to permeate the devastating impact on the inside of the lizard's body. The impact permeated past the hard scaly exterior, and tough flesh and crushed the weak and vulnerable inners.
"SCREEEETCH!" The lizard roared as it staggered around in pain, spitting some green blood.
BOOM!!
The second impact downed it. The beast dropped to the ground, lifeless.
('Reverberating Lance is capable of fulfilling the purpose I bought it for.') Rui nodded, relieved. If he didn't have the Reverberating Lance technique, he would have had to pound at the lizard for God knew how long. But the Reverberating Lance technique was able to expedite the process significantly, allowing him to take the lizard down much earlier than he would have before.
He immediately turned around and began moving towards the center of the Serevian Plain, keeping Seismic mapping on high alert as well. He also used the Mind Mask technique to minimize his presence while using the Shadow Step technique to misdirect any attention away from him. What surprised him was how dense the fauna was in the Serevian Plateau. He ran into hordes of animals as he traveled. Thankfully, he usually avoided them cleanly with the help of Shadow Step, however, it wasn't an absolutely perfect solution. Occasionally, he would be detected and would usually be involved in a scuffle.
Wild dogs. Bears. Wild cats etc. He also ran into a bunch of fantastical creatures that were exclusive to the world of Gaia and didn't exist in the world of Earth.
Leucrocutas. Perytons. Catoblepas. Hippogriffs and a variety of other beasts were pure fiction in the world of Earth but were nothing short of actual in the world of Gaia.
('I see. So this is why only a grade-seven Martial Artist is the pre-requisite for survival in the Serevian Plateau.') He mused.
He had detected countless fauna creatures even within the first hour of his stay in the Serevian Plateau with the help of Seismic Mapping. What he found was shocking. The average power level of the fauna in the Serevial Plateau seemed to be extreme low-end of the Apprentice Realm.
This was absolutely stunning to Rui. This meant that Apprentice-level creatures were the norm, not the outlier. In more normal uncolonized natural habitats, Apprentice-level creatures were usually the apex predators, like in the Shaia Plains. But in the Serevial Plateau, they were extremely common, at least low-grade Apprentice-level creatures were.
The fauna wasn't the only thing extraordinary about the Serevial Plateau. The Flora was quite astounding as well. The size of the fauna life was much larger than one would normally expect. These trees and plants were huge, growing up great heights and widths. What Rui was spooked by despite having read about was the carnivorous plant species that were common across the Serevial Plateau. These were huge plants that were otherwise ordinary but could lash out the hidden fangs and consume large animals that came too close with swift and powerful lashes.
This was one of the ways the fauna population didn't destroy the forest despite being so dense. It was because the forest consumed the animals as well. Truthfully, Rui would have been unable to avoid them all had he not had his enhanced Primordial Instinct. The two brains processing the technique allowed him to concretely evade ambushes from carnivorous flora species.
('I would have at least been injured multiple times without Primordial Instinct and the Mindmirror Symbiote.') Rui mused. The fact that it took a grade-seven and grade-ten technique working together for Rui to be able to guarantee to sense and evade the attacks was rather mind-boggling.
Even the average mid-grade Martial Apprentice would be in extreme danger in this place. Only higher-grade Martial Apprentices could possibly navigate the Serevial Plateau confidently.
The forest grew denser and denser as he traversed deeper and deeper into the Serevial Plateau. The same could be said about the fauna. This was something Rui found odd. There was no real reason for such a bizarre population density distribution. It was extremely unnatural and not something Rui could find an explanation for.
