The water was loud. So, so incredibly loud, and it only got louder as Sebastian continued to walk towards it. Even then, no water was in sight. Trees were all that filled his vision as the convoy moved forward. Trees and the dead things they left behind.

Wildlife within the Primordial Forest was much more diverse than it was within the city. In the city, everything was limited to mutations of domestic animals or the pests within West Cairn. Even the wolves and coyotes were from the park, the little nest of nature within the city. Even the strongest thing he had seen was mutated from a normal cat

Yet the forest held all sorts of things within. Boars, deer, horses and bears. The pests that existed within West Cairn existed within the forest too of course, but they weren’t able to gather as strong a foothold as they had within the city.

Sebastian had noticed some patterns within the wildlife too. For example, animals that usually lived as prey had more control over the elements, whereas most predators had stronger bodies. A bear would get physically stronger as it levelled up but a deer would, albeit still with some bodily enhancements, increase it’s control over magic steadily.

The strongest animals however were the mix between the two. The Burning Sun Cat was proof of this. It’s body was incredibly strong and it had a minor control over it’s element, but not nearly enough for magic. Yet, it still countered Sebastian’s Ice somewhat. If an animal existed with physical prowess and magical control, it would easily outclass anything else within its habitat

This is why Sebastian hadn’t grown complacent even as he levelled up to Lv. 11. Beings stronger than him had already existed even within West Cairn, and the Primordial Forest’s inhabitants would only be even stronger.

A frown had formed on his face, warping the disfigured skin even further as he continued towards the water sounds. If they continued going deeper, even he’d be deathly afraid of the overlords of the area. His instincts had been sounding death bells for the last half hour already.

“Sebastian”

Snapping out of his thoughts and turning his head behind him, Sebastian saw Maeve gesturing towards the front with a strange expression. Following her gaze, Sebastian eventually understood why.

The trees remained, yet now they could see the water.

A river had cut through the earth in front of them, it’s water raging like an angry serpent as it twisted and curved through the ground and cut the forest in two. Sebastian was absolutely sure that even if it was him that tried to step into the water, he’d instantly sink and be swept along it’s current helplessly. It was easily a kilometer in width.

Looking in the direction the water flowed in, Sebastian saw it keep going as far as the eye could see, whereas the sight was different when he looked in the direction of the source. What must have easily been more than a few hundred feet away, a waterfall that spanned the entire width of the river flowed down a cliff easily the height of a small mountain, taller than any tree here.

Looking at the waterfall that almost looked like a sword of water cutting a mountain in half, Sebastian felt his heart leap into his throat. The world definitely had rivers this wide before The Light, but never around West Cairn. The scariest part though was the cliff. Were they in a basin? The closest thing he could relate the area to was Victoria falls, but even that seemed to fall flat.

“Is.. is this water safe?”

Maeve spoke up quietly from a few steps behind him, peering around him towards the water.

She seemed a little fidgety at the sight of the natural basin around them, but her concern still fell mostly on the quality and safety of the water.

Flowing water.

Life inside the water.

Not clear.

Wildlife in the surroundings.

Spring-fed.

That was the criteria he was given when looking for water. Some were easy to discern and some weren’t. The water was definitely flowing, that was easy. It was not perfectly clear either, That was two. Wildlife in the surroundings? The bladesman turned to look up and downstream again and fortunately, he managed to see a herd of deer drinking from the water.

[Lv. 18 Marbelite Stag]

As if sensing his gaze, the leader of the herd looked up from the water and turned in his direction. A strange serenity was carried within its eyes when it locked it’s sight on the bladesman.

It seemed just as surprised as Sebastian when a large, pointed and scaled mouth shot out of the river and clamped it’s jaws down around its neck before dragging it into the surging currents. The rest of it’s herd cried out and scattered quickly, returning the river to silence with nothing but the sound of flowing water as the backdrop.

“.. Definitely things living off of and within the water, which leaves the last question..”

“Is it springfed?”

This.

Climbing up a near perpendicular cliff with nothing but your own hands and knees. This was stupidity. The rock wall that made up the basin was taller than any of these trees, easily the height of a skyscraper, and he had to climb up until he found the source of the water.

Sebastian had gotten stronger, sure. He had more control over his body, yes. As a side effect however, he had also gotten much heavier. Denser, stronger, crystalline bones and tight-knit muscles that can dent a thin sheet of metal couldn’t just appear out of thin air. Improvements always had drawbacks.

He had once been just under 200 pounds and he was now easily 300, even if he looked more lean than he had before The Light. Finding rocks strong enough to support him as he climbed was easier said than done.

The basin was perfect though. A surging river, nearby wildlife, backed against a cliff and trees easily a few stories tall. The potential for a safe haven filled with resources was immense. They could build on the towering trees, bridge their way into a city carved out of the cliffside and live off of the water. Sebastian knew that was a fantasy of course, that would take years to build. But living within the trees and living off of the natural resources nearby? That wasn’t impossible. And he wanted somewhere to settle down too.

So he climbed.

The final criteria was if the waterfall was spring-fed. Even if it wasn’t a natural spring formed in the cliff-side, so long as it eventually came from a spring it would be fine. Probably.

These were Sebastian’s thoughts as he gripped a protruding rock some few stories off of the ground. A rock that immediately growled at his touch, and then nearly instantly after unfurled into a small armadillo-like creature that latched onto the stone surface with its claws. Sebastian lost his grip as the creature skittered away from him with mad squeaks

Left hanging on by a single hand, Sebastian refused to look down at the ground and did his best to grab onto another rock with his now free hand. Cold sweat soaked into the back of his shirt as he glared at the small armadillo looking thing.

[Lv. 4 Stone Shell]

[A creature that digs small divots into stone surfaces and fills them with it’s curled up body to hibernate, it feeds off of the Earth Mana found within its habitat. The creature is extremely lazy, but hates being touched even more than it hates moving.]

This.

This was stupid.

Dallas stood a few steps behind Maeve, looking up at the cliff-side. The convoy had long gathered into a small campsite in-between a few of the trees. Hasan had at some point decided to identify them, finding out they were [Ancient Trees] without levels, so no one was particularly worried they’d come to life like an ent.

Having decided to camp there for the night even if Sebastian couldn’t find the source or if it wasn’t a spring-fed waterfall, everyone had relaxed slightly. Hasan had helped the other militia form a small patrol, Ken remained in one of the trucks with Elijah protecting him. Only Dallas had nothing to do.

“You think it’ll be what we’re looking for?”

“Knowing Sebastian’s luck, probably.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You must have been one of the people we picked up on our way out of the city. Haven't you heard about him?”

Maeve shook her head as she too looked up at the towering stone precipice. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like climbing it, maybe even to the top. The height alone would terrify her, let alone what possible strange creatures could live in or on it.

“What’s there to hear? We already saw him fight against.. whatever appeared and made us kneel.”

“Yes. But he got to that point by being a crazy bastard.”

“He gave me that feeling.”

“Living through the shit he pulled without at least some luck is impossible. Two meetings with a rat swarm, one of which he destroyed. Fighting something stronger than him in every way and coming out on top a few times. It doesn’t seem like much, only a few instances..”

“But it’s only been a week.”

The ‘water specialist’ grew silent as Dallas spoke quietly, her brows furrowed. She didn’t quite get what he meant, or if there was any meaning at all. “It’s only been a week and he’s gone through more than most it seems, yes. Why are you telling me this?”

“Because statistically.. there’s bound to be more people like him. And if they aren’t.. Well, his morality is debatable, but he hasn’t killed anyone yet. But if the next person like him isn't so nice?”

“We’d be crushed beneath their feet.”

Sebastian roared as he slammed a vitality filled fist into the rock face, glaring at the group of [Stone Shells] that squeaked back angrily at him. They didn’t attack him, no, but almost every other rock ended up just being another strange armadillo creature. Climbing this, basically, mountain was hard enough as it is but when every other step was potentially fatal? That pissed him off. Even more so when the angry creatures formed a crowd and chased after him with their enraged squeaks.

A few dozen of the damned things grouped up to ‘shout’ at him from above as he attempted the climb. He was up here for a few hours now, so he guessed he must have gotten near to the source, or at least near the top of the escarpment.

The increased density of water mana only confirmed his guess.