The Swamp Biome
As evening approached Alex upgraded Julis' stats. He hadn't done it for a while, so now he wondered if she had reached the cap limit of 999 on her other stats.
"...You have to be kidding me…"
Once again the teen was annoyed that she had her special skill which all Shonen girls have!
[Julis Alexia-von Riessfield]
[Lv 1]
[STR: B 771 >>> S 971
[VIT: S 999 >>> SS 1031]
[END: A 803 >>> S 958]
[AGI: D 566 >>> B 812]
[MAG: S 999 >>> SS 1071]
[MAGIC: AMARYLLIS
BURNING ROSE PURGATORY
FLAMING WINGS
[SKILL: PYROMANCY: D
MANA MANIPULATION: E
WITCH'S AMBITION
FIRE NATURE
SWORDSMANSHIP: G
[SACRED GEAR: FLAME SHAKE: C]
"... Surprising… I went beyond S ranking?" Julis exclaimed with curiosity as she looked at the paper.
"It's your Skill, that allows you to break the limits." He said with a sigh.
"Simply put, your growth is tied to you emotionally. The more you are driven the faster you grow."
"...I see… so why don't you have such a thing? With Albion, your growth should be more unhinged than mine." She pondered while looking at her paper sheet.
"I am an external factor. While the Sacred Gear is attached to his soul I am still an 'outsider'. For me to influence his growth I assume we would need a Balance Breaker or heavy emotional stress similar to your one when you got your skill." Albion said that as the wings of Divine Dividing popped out from Alex's back.
"I guess it makes sense when you put it like that." Julis nodded at Vanishing Dragon's reasoning.
"Yeah. Whatever." Alex rubbed his forehead for a bit before getting over it.
If these Shonen people have their emotional thing going on, then he can do what he does best! Work like there is no tomorrow!
Iron will is a mental thing as well!
"By the way. We need to restock your inventory." Julis reminded him that they were running out of consumables.
"Oh right…"
He made his phone appear in his hand and checked the inventory.
[Inventory]
Northern Wolf Pelt (Common Rank) x1917
Northern Wolf Fang (Common Rank) x1917
Northern Alpha Wolf Pelt (Uncommon Rank) x70
Northern Alpha Wolf Fang (Uncommon Rank) x70
Multiple encyclopaedias on Ancient Fauna and Animals (Outside Item)
First Aid Kit (Outside item) x3
Disinfectant Bottles (Outside Item) x2
Painkiller Packs (Outside Item) x1
Duct tape (Outside Item) x5
Sharpening Tool Kit (Outside Item) x2
Common Lottery Wheel ticket x1866
Gajau Skin x45
Gajau Whiskers x 12
Basics Of Arcane (Book)
Uncommon Lottery Wheel ticket x59
A copy of Basics of Barrier Magic
History Book of Katanas (Outside Item)
Exorcist Gun (Outside Item)
"We don't have any spare clothes." Alex realised that he remembered that they had left the place because they had no more clothes to keep on going.
Not that they planned to stay any longer anyway, the year was getting closer to the end as well!
"Exactly, this is why I have stuff prepared," Julis smirked at him. She was prepared!
"Nice."
The girl left the room for a bit before she returned with several large backpacks full of clothes.
"Unlike last time I decided to cheat the system. Instead of keeping them separately, I thought why not just store them in bags like these for easier management?"
"That would do. Let me store these away." Alex agreed with her as he walked over and stored the backpacks in his Inventory.
"Apart from that I have some first aid and other stuff. Since we will be facing the Monster Rex we should be prepared." The moment she mentioned Monster Rex, the White Dragon Emperor remembered the Calydonian Boar.
It's speed and power.
The more he thought about it, the more he had confidence that he could face that thing.
"Yes. We should have stashed those just in case. We will be facing things which have claws, horns, fangs and other things. Those can hurt."
"True. By the way, does your Scarminator work for me?" Julis asked curiously.
"...Hmm, let me check."
Alex checked his phone and went to Scar-minator, he pressed it, and moments later he saw his 3D image, he looked for icons in the corners.
There was a back arrow in the left corner, and in the right corner, there was a three-dot image.
The White Dragon Emperor pressed on the three dots and saw the option to change the person.
Once he pressed on this option he saw the name of his girlfriend.
He pressed on her name.
What he saw made him slightly smirk.
"Yep, I can patch you up, just in case you get a scar."
To his words, she smiled and checked the phone's screen.
Her eyes widened as she started to blush.
"Turn it off! What a pervy app!" She exclaimed angrily as she saw herself naked on the screen.
Alex chuckled before closing it.
"You do know that I saw you naked a bunch of times already?"
"Doesn't matter! This is different!" She exclaimed with an angry pout.
"Women, and their weird definitions." The White Dragon Emperor simply shook after hearing her response.
"Ugh! Just forget about it! Just place all the first aid into the inventory!"
~~~
As the pair entered the dungeon they proceeded to stretch out and get ready for travelling.
Since Alex's way of fighting is with his hand blades his shirts mostly are sleeveless. However, he is not immune to muscle damage and joint pain.
So he has elbow protection and his fingerless gloves which Julis got for him.
After all the prep work was done it was time to travel.
"What is our first Hunt?"
Albion asked his Host as they were ready to move.
"The swamps in the east."
"The Swamp wyvern you mentioned before?"
"Yeah. The Jyaratodus, a mix between mudfish and Land Wyvern."
"I see… once we arrive there we can discuss tactics to face such an opponent."
"Yeah."
…
…
…
Since Julis can fly now. Their travelling speed was considerable, but Alex didn't stop with his markings as he didn't want to get lost in such a massive place.
Even if the wolves are nothing but cannon fodder for them by this point, the forest itself is still deadly in its special way.
So they had to stop at specific points.
However, a couple of weeks later the vegetation started to change.
The distance between trees started to widen and the ground started to look wet. Grass started to get taller and taller.
The biome changed into swamp lands little by little. Alex needed to adjust how he was cutting his trees. Until he could not do it anymore.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The group ended up standing on the last tree and looking around.
"...Aren't marches supposed to be full of small life? You know… frogs and other critters, making noise all over the place." Julis spoke with a barely hidden nervous voice.
Swamps are not a location she would like to be in.
"Supposed to, yes. But, all we get are Gajau all over the place." Alex pointed at a pack of prehistoric-looking fish with orange sails sticking out from the water.
"Ugh…"
"Oh, so those are the fishes? I wonder what they taste like?" Albion was more interested in tasting them out than worrying about their threat level.
"No idea. But if they are here, the Jyaratodus should be not far."
As Alex mentioned he jumped down and landed on an island which looked quite solid. He noticed these islands were at a specific distance from each other.
They act like a 'safe haven' from those Gajau fishes. But that could be misleading as Gajau could jump out like torpedoes and bite a person in half.
"Can we take that pack first? I want to try out the taste!"
Albion floated down next to Alex and asked. The Vanishing Dragon was excited for some reason.
Julis landed next, she deadpanned when she heard that. Her gaze was scrutinising, the Dragon can't be serious!
"...You do realise we have no idea if they are supposed to be edible in the first place. None of the wolves remained after we killed them. They disappear." The Pink Princess reminded the Dragon about the previous encounters with monsters of the dungeon.
"Yes, I know. But, we never tried to eat them! You have your flames, you can help me try cooking them!"
A grimace appeared on her face when she realised that Albion was not dropping the idea of eating the predatory fish.
"...you can't be serious…" The girl looked at her boyfriend, wanting his support for this!
"Let him taste it. Once he gets over it we can focus on our travels." Alex sighed, he knew the Vanishing Dragon wouldn't drop it until he tasted the fish.
"Now you are speaking my language! Let's do it!"
Julis facepalmed, they are supposed to be planning attacks and combinations against a Monster Rex, not this!
"Fine. Let's get this over with!"
~~~
It wasn't as difficult to get a Gajau for Albion. Alex simply electrified the water and all the fish rolled over and died.
The Dragon Emperor then flew over and coiled its body around one of the fish picked it up and flew over to Julis.
"Come on! Let's do it!"
The pinkette just rolled her eyes and started to cook it.
While Albion just waited eagerly for the fish to cook.
…waited…and waited…
Until it started to look cooked.
"Yes! It's working! I knew it!"
The pair of humans looked at each other. Seeing such a 'Majestic' beast like White Dragon Emperor get excited over fish is quite…strange.
"You can stop!"
The moment Julis stopped, Albion, like a hungry beast, pounced on the fish.
"...How do you think this works? We don't get hungry in this place. What's the point of eating?" The girl asked her boyfriend as she walked over to his side and started whispering to him.
"Honestly, I have no idea. However, I do believe there could be changes to this place the moment we remove the Monster Rex."
"...You think?" She wondered why he thought like that.
"...Just a hunch, but each biome has a ruler. If you haven't noticed, the biggest biome is the forest. Forests could hold the best amount of vegetation. But the enemy we face there should be the last.
The middle is empty but its surroundings are not. This means that the forest holds the most value." He said that while pondering on the meaning behind such a layout.
"Or not. Maybe I am overthinking. And it's just a means to mess with our heads." Alex shrugged at the end as he looked at how Albion had just spit out a huge bone.
The dragon was not holding back on the meal.
"I see… makes sense. A forest like that could hold an abundance of vegetation. Like berries and mushrooms. If it has wolves it should have other prey. Like deer or elk." Julis pondered as she looked away from Albion and looked back at the endless forest.
"So good… I haven't eaten in ages! This is one of the reasons why I wish to have a body, partner!" Albion exclaimed loudly as it was lying on the grass with a large stomach.
'How did he eat a fish almost as large as he is!' Julis thought with a sweaty forehead! The Vanishing Dragon is a glutton, to say the least!
"Sure you do. But unlike the Red one you can already enjoy semi-freedom."
"HA! You know it! I can't wait to brag to him that I can manifest in certain circumstances! It would drive him mad!"
Albion started to laugh his ass off. As the Dragon Emperor imagined Ddraig bitching about this and wanting to learn the details!
"Ugh…can we continue our journey? We still need to find that Monster Rex?"
Julis brought the dragon from his fantasies of messing with the Red Dragon Emperor!
"Fine. Let's go. I want to see this thing in person as well!"
The white dragon stopped lazing on the grass and started to float. The remains of his food disappeared as well by this point.
Which was noticed by the group.
~~~
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