“So, explain to me again why we’re going to visit a giant tortoise corpse?” Brock’s voice echoed through the plains, accompanied only by the sounds of the grass being rustled by wind and the calls of various monsters dormant along the countryside.

Waking up… had been a strange experience. They’d been walking for the past hour, as to not aggravate his already precarious condition, but the memory of it was still fresh in his mind. The last thing he’d remembered before the darkness came was a figure, a lanky, disfigured one, yet when he awoke, the only being that was there was none other than Amara.

His ex-girlfriend.

Among everything that had happened as of late, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her. Probably when they’d broken up back in college. She was a chemistry major, smart and pretty, and he was a marketing major, often involved in swathes of work and with little time to spend elsewhere.

Now that he looked back, he supposed that it wasn’t all that likely that they’d work out. He was sure that his tendency to mask his emotions with humour didn’t exactly help either. He admitted that it was rather… difficult to have a serious conversation with him sometimes. And so, she’d had enough, and he’d had the awareness to know it wasn’t going to work. They broke up.

Brock certainly hadn’t expected that she’d be the one to save his life, however. Thank God we broke up on good terms.

Events had progressed quickly after that. They’d shared a hug, although one that he she held for far too long, and he’d been given the run down on how she’d endeavoured with alchemy to restore him to health. Mio had sat in the background for the duration of it, mostly nodding along with whatever was said. She seemed rather uninvested in the conversations.

Where his confusion began, however, was when the two women appeared to continue their own conversation. The word ‘Treasure’ was thrown around a few times, as well as ‘Vial’, ‘potion’, and ‘giant tortoise’. To his mind that was still gummed up by weariness and distracted by a pounding headache, it was all rather disorientating.

By the time he and Mio had left the town together and ventured south, he had managed to piece together that they were seeking out a Treasure from an exceptionally large tortoise that was supposedly deceased. As to why no one had gone and plucked it yet, he had no idea, and for why Mio was seeking it out at the other woman’s behest, he was also clueless.

He supposed he could tell Mio that he needed to eat Treasures for his chance to survive, and they could steal it, but even he wasn’t heartless enough to snatch such an item from his ex-girlfriend, dying or not. He’d find more, and he still had ti-

The taste of sourness filled his mouth, and as he spat to the side, his eyes caught the gleam of a glob of blackened blood. Ok… maybe not…

Ahead of him, Mio spun her dagger along her fingers, the edge catching the sunlight pleasantly and blinding Brock every time he looked at it, as though the position of the shine was deliberate every time, “To save your life. Your ex back there says she can cough something up that should buy you some time to get yourself worked out.”

The Treasure’s for me? Brock furrowed his brows, “I already found out that I need to evolve my race to boost my lifeforce. There’s no need, mate.”

Mio wheeled around and faced him, walking backwards. Her eyes pierced into his own, “You remember what the doctor said, you idiot? Take severe injury and you’ll strain your lifeforce.”

“I… uh… do remember that…” he coughed, “vaguely…”

She snorted and faced the front once more, “Then you know that you’ve just let a bunch of time go down the drain. Three months was already generous. You think you can find however many levels worth of Treasures in a month? In two weeks? We have no idea how long you’ve got now.”

She’s… not wrong. Finding 33 levels worth of Treasures would certainly be a difficult affair, especially if he considered that any ones actually worth eating would be guarded by monsters far more powerful than he was comfortable dealing with. Anything else he’d find would give him maybe one or two levels, and even then, they’d be hard to come by.

He scratched the back of his head and sighed, agreeing with the woman. Can’t even go back to Meiyo. That guy… ‘Zin Keene’ seemed to be able to track me. He might come to the city if I do…

That all helped put things into perspective for him. Time… would certainly be quite useful as of current, while he figured out a plan. He had the goal, now he just needed to streamline the journey.

“I guess.” He finally replied.

Mio snorted, “Right.”

The sun was just about beginning its descent at this point in the day. It had been late morning when he’d awoken, and now it was dipping past the afternoon. They’d been walking for a while, a time that could have been slashed to molecules had the two of them just ran, but alas, he’d rather not worsen his dying body further.

He was getting restless, however, when another hour passed by, and they still hadn’t found the tortoise in question. It wasn’t like they could miss it either, as Amara had said that it was larger than the town itself. It did make Brock wondered if the beast had been a Tyrant before it’d died, as he doubted a normal monster would be that massive.

He was yet to see one that large, at least. Discounting the Brood-Mother back in the outback, of course.

A mountain range loomed on the horizon, the fog of distance obscuring its low peaks and forest dotted landscape. Snow glittered atop the mountains, and Brock swore he could even make out a stream flowing down their centre. The entire thing seemed rather out of place compared to the rest of the landscape, though he supposed that the System didn’t really give a shit.

And then finally, just went he felt himself at his wits end, they stumble upon something. And it was something indeed. Many somethings.

“That’s… woah…” Brock muttered, the soft winds carrying his voice further than he’d expected. It echoed with the gargantuan footprint that had pressed into the earth. He had no way to measure it, but just by sight, it seemed to be several tens of meters wide, and just as many deep. Several more dotted the landscape, all leading in one direction.

Whatever had tread here had been big. And heavy.

Mio crouched down and surveyed the print, her eyes narrowing, “It’s the tortoise.”

“You sure it wasn’t a fucking meteor shower?”

“Yes,” her cheeks seemed to flush, and she looked away, “I… had a tortoise when I was younger. The footprints are identical.”

Brock nodded slowly, choosing not to comment. His mind was still a bit muddled from the utter smashing it had endured, and he didn’t trust himself not to say something that would anger Mio. He’d rather not have a needle poking out of him. Or a slit throat. It depended on what he said, he supposed.

They picked up the pace a bit, weaving between crater after crater, the mountain ranges growing in the distance as they approached in its direction. Brock’s eyes widened slightly as he surveyed its peaks. There’s no way…

As they edged closer and closer towards those peaks, Brock soon found that his suspicions came true. Together, they crested the final row of trees in forest ruined by the giant creature that had stomped through and gazed over a sight that left them speechless.

His eyes shook as they took in the sight of a gargantuan tortoise, its skin orange and rugged like outback stone, and toenails rough and shiny like uncut gems. Even from a few hundred meters away, Brock could spot the trio of drooped eyes adorning the side of its head, and knew they were each part of a pair.

Its sunset-coloured shell surrounded its torso, protecting it in uneven plates of a material that appeared to be slate. Atop its shell rested what amounted to an island, earth clinging to it tightly and carrying a collection of mountain ranges, forests, streams and lakes. He was amazed that none of it was yet to fall off.

Upon creeping closer, the beast’s true size really came into perspective. It was… massive, to say the least. Each foot was several dozen meters wide, and the body itself was easily half a kilometre across. And like the alchemist had said, it was lying limp and unmoving. He could even spot signs of flora growing between its craggy skin.

It must have been here for a while. But even then, the sight was terrifying. No wonder no one took the Treasure.

The question now was where the Treasure was. While he was leery of the idea, as he and Mio arrived beside its monstrous carcass, they scaled its craggy skin and placed themselves within the biome it held upon its back. The sounds of bird calling, and the noise of rustling leaves echoed around them, and Brock truly realised the wonder of this place.

Up this close, however, his aura senses picked up the beast’s own aura, strong and powerful, but faint and old. As he delved further with his senses, he found his initial guess to be right. The creature was a Tyrant.

And an E-Grade one at that.

If he had to guess, it had probably been around ten levels above Gor’eth back before it had died. Which did make him wonder just what the hell could kill something so powerful. There were no noticeable wounds that he could see whether from afar or as they prowled through the world upon its back, though he supposed that poison could have done the creature in. He doubted many attacks would be able to bypass its thick skin.

Maybe starvation killed it? There probably isn’t enough to feed something this big around here.

Leaving his speculations for another time and easing his growing worry now that E Grades appeared to be starting to awaken upon their planet, Brock focused on his hiking through the mountains and forests.

While five hundred meters wasn’t really that big a distance to travel, when you were climbing rocks, avoiding dead ends, and skipping over streams, it was a rather time-consuming endeavour. In the meantime, he kept his attention closely focused upon his cells, keeping himself aware of even the barest fluctuation of hunger in his cells.

If they felt a Treasure was nearby, he was certain they’d let him know. He looked up at the sky, the sun still shining high above. It was time for a treasure hunt.

**

Brock looked up at the sky, sun having dipped past what he could see and the sky now darkening above. To his side, Mio snarled and carved through a tree with a tentacle of shadow. He too, felt his frustration piling up, and he groaned.

We’ve been searching… He tallied his estimate within his head …for seven hours.

At this point, Brock wanted to cry.

Not a single time, not even once, had his cells reacted to anything upon the island. They’d scoured every single inch of it four times over, they were certain of it. They’d checked in lakes and searched for caves, but there was nothing. Whatever Treasure had been here… was gone.

“You think something ate it?” Brock asked. The duo had sighted various birds and mammals living amongst the flora and thriving. He supposed that, with other monsters scared away by the presence of the tortoise, they could live in peace. It wouldn’t be all that far fetched that a squirrel had taken it and fled.

Mio glowered dangerously, “It better fucking not have.”

The man tried to hold out hope, but he found himself unable. Amara had said that the Treasure had been potent enough that she had felt it from deep within, without even setting foot inside. Chances were, if he hadn’t felt it yet, that it was gon…

Wait… Brock paused midstep. Amara said that she hadn’t set her feet inside.

His arms flicked out and snatched Mio’s wrist. She called out in shock, and his legs flexed as they zipped them through the biome and towards the direction of the beast’s head. Mio snarled at him to let go, and confident she’d be able to keep pace with him, she obliged.

Together, they skimmed along the Tyrant’s long neck, jumping from crag to crag, before finally tapping down on its snout and dropping to the ground in front of it. As Brock rose from his landing, his shadow bulged and Mio exited from within it.

“What the hell was that for?” she hissed.

Brock didn’t even hear her, his cells practically screaming as he felt the powerful energy wafted out from the creature’s mouth. Mio too, quickly realised that her cells were begging her to move towards it, and her gaze followed Brock’s; the darkness obscuring the tortoise’s mouth. The Treasure… was inside the creature.

The man stepped forward, and attempted to peer past the veil of black, albeit to no avail, “I… uh… think it’s in there…”

“No shit sherlock.” Mio crossed her arms and stepped away, “I’m sorry, but I’m not entering the mouth of monster, dead or not. It’s a terrible idea.”

Brock nodded in understand and he crept toward it, his foot pressing against the Tyrant’s rough tongue. It was hard, like stone, “Yeah, that’s a good rule.”

He brought the rest of him inside the beast and continued forward a bit. He couldn’t see anything, although he had his phone torch, which should work. He glanced back at Mio, who was gazing at him with a cocked brow, “I’ll go and get it. You can wait out here like a chump. Oh, and if I die, tell my-”

The man stumbled back as the creature’s tongue twitched and its maws snapped closed, the action so powerful that it produced a shockwave. Brock found himself on his ass as a low whine echoed from further within the creature. It’s previously faint aura, flared, but kept itself contained.

Brock facepalmed, “…Fuck…”