Rainier was on the run. After somehow decimating the punitive force sent out by the arachnacosa, Rainier was made the center of a manhunt by the half spider half human creatures.

It was especially troubling considering that among the arachnacosa, Rainier had to deal with multiple other deadly life forms. There were the hidden carnifers, cloud wyverns, evoants, and a plenty of other monsters Rainier had encountered.

In fact, Rainier had a close call with one of these monsters. It called a Hornet Stag and was more stag than hornet. It resembled a normal sized male deer, but its antlers jutted out with sharp angles and branched off with several sharp points. It also had a muddy yellow color to its fur and had bizarre chitin like growths protecting its joints. The last notable feature was its impressively developed hind legs packed with muscle.

Hornet Stag- An omnivorous creature that thrives in forested areas. It uses powerful charges thanks to its hind legs and deadly antlers to impale its prey or enemies before devouring them with its first set of teeth created precisely for ripping flesh apart into suitable chunks. It uses its long tongue to wrap around bunches of leaves or grass and push it into its mouth towards its second set of teeth reserved for grinding up its food. Should its antlers become stuck inside an object like a trunk or an animal’s body, it can eject its antlers and regrow them over time dependent on their age.

One of the hornet stags ambushed Rainier out of nowhere from the dense forest. It was because of the speed he acquired that Rainier was able to notice and dodge the initial surprise attack.

The hornet stag landed gracefully, scattering dirt and sand behind its hooves. It looked quite intimidating when it stared at Rainier. It seemed to grin with both sets of teeth visible as if setting Rainier as its next target.

Rainier looked around him. Right now on his left was an utterly dense forest, on his right a few meters away was a cliff that which falling over would lead to certain death.

The Hornet Stag charged Rainier again, which this time he managed to avoid only because he could see it charge ahead of time.

‘Fast!’ Cried out Rainier silently.

Indeed, the hornet stag’s incredibly powerful hind legs made the main body surge forward like an artillery shell. Rainier blindly stepped to the side the moment before the hornet stag charged so he was of course safe. However he also slashed with the razor in the line the hornet stags charge would take it.

It was impossible for a creature like the hornet stag to change course in the middle of its jumping lunge. Rainier figured that as the razor left a minor, but lengthy cut along the hornet stag’s flank. It was the sort of scratch you would receive from a feisty cat and ignore as soon as you received it despite the initial pain. .

The hornet stag paid the scratch no mind, not even releasing any cry of pain. It slammed against a tree, embedding its horns into a tree. Although Rainier read about it in the encyclopedia, he was still surprised to see the animal pop the horns off its head and turn around to face Rainier while new horns began growing and poking through its skull.

‘Like fricken Wolverine… But with its head and bone horns instead of metal claws!’ Randomly reminded of the superhero, Rainier grit his teeth and flipped the razor back into normal grip and stood ready.

But then, rather anticlimactically, the hornet stag swayed and swooned about as if intoxicated. It then fell over with pained moan and stopped moving after several seconds.

Rainier looked at the Razor of Envy. It still had a faint layer of poison. “No wonder… This poison is really strong. I better get some more poisonfinger berries when I get the chance. So lethal!”

Rainier felt a strange mental stab which felt like he was piercing his own brain with the Razor of Envy. He always felt like this when he absorbed the power of another creature.

Rainier wanted to know the parameters of the Razor of Envy’s power absorption, but in order to do so he needed to kill more creatures. So far he had only slain an evoant and a handful of arachnacosa directly with the razor. From the evoant, Rainier gained an increase in his physique. From the arachnacosa he gained the ability to spit poison along with a general awareness in using weapons to fight. It seemed like the acidic saliva was subconsciously created when Rainier intended to do battle with an enemy.

So what would Rainier gain from the last two enemies he slew: The female arachnacosa and the hornet stag?

‘What kind of power did I gain?’ Rainier finally moved forward. Nothing felt different than before, so Rainier decided to brood upon it while exploring.

The scenery of Roseir Plateau began changing little by little from a deciduous jungle into a more plains like scene. There were still plenty of trees, but he now saw groves of grass and flowers connecting like a delta.

After traversing a fair distance while carefully looking out for danger, Rainier happened upon a chasm. It was a terribly deep chasm in which he could not even see the bottom due to fog and a thick net of roots. Rainier laid down and peered over the edge, it seemed the chasm arced inwards up like and archway.

In any case, it was impossible to cross the chasm without making a bridge. The chasm divided the plateau into two with a gap at least eight meters long. Rainier would normally give up then and there… But he felt he could make the jump. He felt that his legs were strong enough.

Rainier took put his back to a tree a fair ways away from the chasm. He eyed the gap and smiled fearlessly. Drops of sweat beaded down his body as he anticipated the suicidal action he was about to take.

“I can’t live in this damn world without taking risks!” Rainier sprinted forward. He didn’t take any special running stance like those in the Olympics. He simply moved forward.

However the speed at which his legs gave him was not what he was used to. Surprised by his sudden burst of acceleration, Rainier tripped over his own legs and face planted into the ground.

“Gah! Damn!” Although the pain was mediocre, it still annoyed him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, where the pain was centered. “Ach… That’ll leave a bruise. Still, the power from my legs… I don’t recognize it. Is that the effect from killing the hornet stag? It did have powerful legs after all. I wonder how high I can jump vertically.”

Rainier crouched low and looked upwards. He instantly jumped upwards with all the strength he could find in his legs.

And he soared.

“HOLY SHIT!” Rainier knew that the highest recorded vertical jump was around sixty inches. However his current jump, which only borrowed a portion of the powerful legs of a hornet stag, easily went beyond that.

Rainier reached more than three meters into the air and was only just then at the top of his parabola. He felt like he was floating in midair at that height, only then did he feel like he could understand what birds felt high in the sky. However it was a fleeting feeling as Rainier soon fell to the ground.

It was only seconds of time he was in the air, but that single jump made Rainier realize something.

‘At the very least, I can easily jump across that gap with these amped legs.’ Rainier landed on both his feet and hands. He hadn’t expected such a high jump and so his ungraceful finish was warranted.

“Sssssssssk…” “Ssssk…” “SSK!” “SSSSSSK!”

Jolting Rainier out of his reverie was the familiar hissing noise belonging to evoants. Rainier looked behind him to see the insect soldiers creeping around opposite ends of the tree. Their antenna twitched on their heads, sending feedback to their hive mind.

There were only two evoants as far as Rainier could see. Two too many he also thought. He was only able to kill the one before because of its distraught state, right now they were all aboveground where the insect shines brightest.

Rainier didn’t hesitate to start running when he saw them. The evoants noticed the prey before them was fleeing so they took chase. These were creatures that ate anything they regarded as food. The human before them was simply another piece of meat for their hive.

His feet kicked the ground powerfully, giving Rainier an instant boost to his acceleration. Merely seconds passed until he made it to the chasm and leaped with all his might.

Much to Rainier’s surprise, he easily made more than half the jump before falling downwards and barely making it to the other side. He then immediately turned around, brandishing his dagger at his pursuers.

The evoants ran as if their life depended on it. They jumped simultaneously, flailing about in the air. Their mindless, basic instincts caused them to begin falling down sooner due to air resistance from their frantic movements.

Still, the evoants had powerful bodies and made it to the other side of the chasm. The ground was weak however and crumbled away the moment the ants collided with the cliffs, the multi-limbed creatures somehow managed to scrabble their way to stable ground despite hanging precariously over the chasm.

Rainier reacted quickly and kicked one of the evoants in the face. His powerful leg slammed into the insect’s armored head, probably ravaging whatever organs inside. The evoant could not hold onto the cliff any longer and went fell down while releasing a loud, “SKSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssss…” Rainier heard its cry until he was no longer able to hear it as the insect body disappeared into the depths of the chasm.

Rainier pivoted around to face the evoant which had made it over the cliff. It used its multiple limbs to deftly climb up and face Rainier. As he was crouched low, Rainier used his strong lower limbs to jab at the evoants legs and knock it back.

Being the mindless creature it was, the evoant didn’t bother reacting to Rainier’s provocation, instead opting to tackle Rainier and bind him. The end result was that the evoant fell down face first.

Rainier went in for the kill with the Razor of Envy, aiming for the vulnerable fleshy area between exoskelatal plates on its neck. The evoant thrashed about, attempting to gain the upper hand.

Rainier, although he had gained a mediocre amount of strength in his body, was still nowhere near as strong as an evoant and was easily tossed away. However the sabotage was already done.

A *kerack* sound went off as a small explosion erupted around the evoant’s upper body. Rainier had wedged a small blaze crystal in between the ant’s personal armor plates. And while he hadn’t expected it to go off just like that, Rainier was already taking advantage of his plan.

The evoant spun a full circle in midair from the explosion’s momentum before falling to the ground, howling in pain. It barely wasted anytime though in getting back up to face Rainier, which he found impressive. The explosion of the blaze crystal was comparable to hand grenade, so the fortitude of the ant was indeed worthy of admiration.

‘As expected of a creature that evolved from humans and ants… I wonder what evoants born from other races are like?’ Not intending to ponder it any longer, Rainier sidestepped the evoant’s tackle.

He shot his left hand towards the evoant and followed suit with his right. The curved blade of Rainier’s dagger soon found its way up into the evoant’s head, piercing the brain.

“And just in time too…” Exhaled Rainier as he noticed the evoant’s armed bent unnaturally backwards in order to latch onto Rainier while he straddled its back. Surely if he waited even a second longer, the evoant would’ve grabbed onto him and not let go, effectively rendering any resistance futile. Already, like before, the blood was seeping into the Razor of Envy.

Rainier didn’t waste any time in seeking safety. The evoants surely sent a signal to their comrades as their minds were all connected to their queen. After traversing a small distance, he found a small crater.

“Is this what I think it is?!” Tentatively, Rainier walked down to the bottom of the crater which gradually steepened inwards. What he saw was a pool with crystalline clarity of what he suspected was water.

However, before he went any further, the encyclopedia hummed dully. When he initially fled Outpost Roseir, Rainier tucked away the encyclopedia on his waist. The information inside it and potential information was an invaluable resource.

Oasis Trap- A large carnivorous creature that lives the majority of its life underground. It feeds by burrowing underground and opening its mouth in order to completely encompass the hole it dug. It then fills its mouth with pheromone laced water in order to lure in prey. The pheromones themselves are harmless and don’t affect smaller prey. Its mouth is wider than the pool and has multiple feelers in order to sense disturbances in the water. Once the oasis trap feels enough prey is centered in its mouth, it quickly closes up swallowing everything whole. It does, however, prefer larger prey. Also, in order to camouflage itself, it can form growths that resemble nearby flora. Some humanoids took advantage of these growths and held onto them when the oasis trap closes its mouth. Due to the immense danger and rarity of the oasis trap, the water it secretes for its pool is considered valuable and is praised for its nutritious qualities.

Rainier’s initial excitement over his discovery was quelled upon reading the entry in the encyclopedia. “I need water… But it’s pretty dangerous. And how big is the prey he usually likes?” Rainier was debating whether to brave the danger of being eaten alive.

Maybe he was already within the oasis trap’s mouth, ready to be devoured at any moment…

Rainier considered the possibility; in fact Rainier suspected he had entered the oasis trap’s gullet the moment he stepped into the crater. ‘Well, no matter. I’m thirsty and I’m already in deep enough shit as it is. I might as well take shelter in the most dangerous place I can find.’

Rainier felt that as long as long as if he found one of these stable growths, he was in a good position to survive here for a while. Even if he was found by a group of arachnacosa, evoants, or some other force, Rainier could make the oasis trap swallow up while he held onto a growth.

After a small while (involving a lot of surveying his surroundings), Rainier located a suitable spot to make camp. It was on a flatter portion of the crater and located in a hallowed out rock the size of a small home. After setting his belongings down, Rainier went to gather edibles and scoop up some of the water for later using a water skin he salvaged from the outpost. Thankfully the oasis trap showed no interest in eating him just yet. He also found a ravenous critter the size of a capybara which attacked Rainier with its long tail like a xenomorph from fiction.

Scorpara- An omnivorous rodent that spears smaller prey with its tail and fends off potential threats with the same appendage.

After accidentally slaying the critter with a shower of loose rocks, Rainier brought it back to eat. He lamented on the fact that he didn’t find a chance to finish it off with the Razor of Envy and gain an ability. Sighing over the fact, he scratched the back of his nest as he watched it being roasted by a fire he made from kindling and a spark of a blaze crystal.

‘What the… What’s on my neck?’ Rainier rubbed a strange lump on the back of his neck. Using the razor as a mirror, Rainier looked at the back of his neck to see a pair of ridged black nubs protruding from his flesh. Being surprisingly calm about the discovery, Rainier continued to thumb the nubs while attempted to figure out what they were.

Every time he touched them, it sent an electric tingling sensation into his brain. They felt unusually sensitive to his surroundings. Almost as if they were… “Antennae?” Rainier was under the impression that he was gaining a stronger body from the evoants when in fact he was growing a powerfully sensitive set of antennae. The physical increase was probably a result of his body’s changes.

“In any case this clarifies some questions about the Razor of Envy.” Marveled Rainier as he sat down to feast on the long lost flavor of meat.

The Razor of Envy apparently required multiple kills of a species in order to gain a specific ability from them. The ability gained seemed to be their most prominent feature and sometimes differentiated on gender. From the evoants, Rainier just found out he was gaining sensitive antennae. From the arachnacosa males, Rainier gained the ability to spit some sort of acid, the females didn’t seem to contribute to this ability’s growth and thus Rainier bet he would get something different from female arachnacosa. Lastly from the hornet stag, Rainier acquired muscular legs.

After eating and savoring the delicious water as much as possible. Rainier created one of his specials traps with the oasis trap in mind. He attached as many wooden spikes fashioned from a bunch of sticks he gathered and positioned them so that anyone before the entrance to the hollowed rock would fall in and get skewered should the oasis trap close its mouth.

“Speak of the devil… Something may fall into my trap already.” Rainier saw a single figure, about the size of an evoant racing into the crater.

However he saw a group of three arachnacosa chasing after the supposed evoant.

“Makes sense, I doubt the evoants or arachnacosa would be friendly to each other. I wonder which side would win in an all out confrontation…”

Rainier was about to hide himself so that he didn’t catch the attention of either side. Then he heard a girlish plea, “Geeeeeet awaaaaay!”

‘English?’ Confused, Rainier focused his eyes and brand new antennae. ‘She looks human… I thought according to the encyclopedia the humans were extinct? No matter, I’m not that heartless to leave a girl like that to those monsters.’

Rainier moved to a feeler belonging to the oasis trap he found earlier and stood by. He waited until the girl and the arachnacosa were line up with the entrance to his shelter. Once they were aligned, Rainier twisted the feeler and burst towards the hollow rock.

A roar shook the area and the crater began tilting upside down. Rainier looked about in a mixture of fear and curiosity as he saw the entire crater, which is a little less than a kilometer wide begin closing up.

Rainier had already made it to the part of the hollowed rock where the side of its entrance was and stood upright. As the ground shifted, he changed position so that he stood on the rock and not the ground.

Almost immediately the girl and the arachnacosa began falling towards him and improvised stake pit. Sand, loose rocks, animals, and all sorts of objects began falling into the pool at the center

Rainier timed his jump and crouched low. When he judged the girl was close enough, he nimbly leapt into the air and plucked the girl from the air and gracefully landed on the other side of the hollow’s entrance. The arachnacosa fell into the hollowed rock, cursing furiously in their harsh language before being brutally punctured and impaled on the stakes. The three arachnacosa began choking on their blood and soon perished with a handful of jerky movements from their nervous systems.

“Ah… Thank you?”

‘She sounds cute. Maybe she fell for my manliness from rescuing her?’ With both delusion and hopes that the girl was a pretty one, Rainier looked at the girl he was holding in his arms. Indeed, the girl was very pretty, resembling a young woman that had her looks perfected with the best photoshop had to offer.

“No problem, really. I can’t ignore a girl being attacked by arachnacosa.” Rainier was dully relieved to finally speak with someone after being so long alone.

He had read about how solitude for a long period of time can be severely damaging for a person’s mind, even fatal to an extent. Although he hadn’t put much thought into it since he was focused on survival, Rainier just now realized how happy he was to have a conversation with another person, and a pretty girl at that.

“I see, I see. Indeed, it would be impossible for ANYONE to ignore such a peerless beauty like me after all! In any case, please set me down. It is far too embarrassing for royalty such as myself to be held in such a promiscuous manner.” Declared the girl with reddened cheeks.

‘She’s certainly sure of herself. Still, she is very pretty, I guess it’s warranted.’ Rainier took a few seconds to take in the girl’s looks.

She had silken black hair disheveled from being pursued moments ago. She wore a surprisingly clean tan robe covering the majority of her body, though it was far too simple for self-declared royalty to be wearing. As befitting a peerless beauty like her, she had a slender figure, though Rainier averted his eyes lest he was thought of too poorly. Her skin had an olive tint and her eyes were pure black. She had a pair of antennae protruding behind her ears and black chitin tail.

‘Tail?’

The girl stood proudly and exaggeratingly placed her palm on her bosom. “Allow me to introduce myself to the man who saved me! I am named Sataska and I am an Evoant Queen!”

“What… What? HUUUUH?”