“Run, Miles! They are coming!” The childish voice of Coin reverberated in Miles’s mind.

“Gee, thanks buddy. Like I didn’t know 20 Wind Mantises were chasing me!” Miles rolled his eyes as he was running away with everything he had. He was holding an azure orb as big as an infant's fist, while 20 green-blue mantises as big as humans were chasing him.

It all started a day ago.

Miles decided to have a better weapon because the orb dagger he was using was more like an ornament. Someone special gifted it for his 14th birthday. Because he had no other weapon, he used it in the Portal World, but it was coming short.

The previous night. After they bought the mysterious rock that claimed to be taken from the pyramids by the vendor, Miles looked for weapons. All the orb weapons he saw were too expensive. He didn’t have the capital for one. So he connected to UniNet and looked for suitable orbs he could farm close to the stronghold.

With Coin’s help, he finally found one that's close by - Insect Kingdom, Wind Mantises’ nesting ground!

Wind Mantises were dangerous wind elemental creatures. Their sword-shaped forearms gave them speed and sharpness when they attacked. With a triangular head-turning 180 degrees to each side, there was not that much escape from their notice. Fortunately, they couldn’t fly like their counterparts on Earth. Miles was counting on it.

On the UniNet, it stated that a Wind Mantis would rarely drop a wind sword orb. Miles liked the idea of using such a weapon for monster hunting. To travel to Insect Kingdom, he had to cover a long distance, so he chose to leave his new apartment early.

His new apartment was close to the train station this time, so it didn’t take him long to arrive at the Dimensional Device and teleported to the stronghold. He appeared and proceeded to his designated room.

Personal rooms were built with high security to keep each individual safe and to have privacy. They were free of charge, but everything else has a price tag on them. Any personal items could be also stored without any worry. Miles didn’t have any doubts about leaving his stuff in the room.

He left most of the dried and canned foods he bought before he came. Those were his emergency supplies. He would also spare some money whenever he could for restock. After leaving the room with enough food to last for a week, he set out to Insect Kingdom.

It was a forest as big as a small country. Living there were millions of different kinds of insects. Even though it was starting at the outermost perimeter of the G-Circle, its border reached the F-Circle, and there were monsters of low-tier to pinnacle the inner it went. Because it was relatively close to the stronghold, most of the area had already been charted.

It didn’t take long for Miles to arrive in the forest. The canvas of rainbow-colored forest was spectacular, but the loud chirps of the insects were breaking the atmosphere.

Miles looked at the map Coin was displaying, and hit the road. The outer perimeters were relatively safe. Weak monsters could only watch from afar, eyeing weaker targets. They ignored the healthy and strong Miles.

Miles looked around carefully and recorded everything he had seen to his mind. He always does that when he goes somewhere for the first time. He liked to be ready against any situation and would like to know the environment in case of need.

It took him some time to arrive at an open area with naked trees. The ground was covered with fallen dead leaves. Strong wind scattered them off onto the ground at a distance, making a crimson path that looked magnificent but deadly. It gave Miles the feeling of a blood path leading to hell, but he shook the idea off. He walked with resolute steps but as silent as he could.

As he walked through the crimson path, he heard the cries of the mantises. He hid behind a tree. His gaze fell onto more than 20 mantises. Miles looked surprised as they were— mating!

It was as weird as it could be. Miles flustered for a second, but a little electric current from Coin, shocked him and helped him to recover.

‘What the hell, I caught them mating?’ Miles couldn’t believe his luck. He climbed to the tree carefully lest he make any sound to alert them. After successfully climbing, he took a position on the closest pair. They were about to finish, and both the female and male looked tired. As they were about to be done, Miles was about to charge on them with the dagger orb in his hand. But was stopped in his attack as he saw something incredible. The female mantis bit off and chewed the male's head, and then swallowed it.

‘Just like the mantis on Earth.’ Miles was bewildered. ‘That is a wasted orb’, he thought and then jumped on the female who was about to lay on the ground.

Without an order from Miles, Coin supplied the orb with electricity. It turned into a dagger.

Miles stabbed it into the female mantis’s brain. It shrieked painfully, and it didn’t take long for it to die.

Miles masterfully removed the orb from its head. A marveling azure sword orb was obtained.

As he held the orb, a deathly aura came over him from behind. Without a second thought, he ran immediately.

Miles looked behind. Twenty mantises chased after him, shrieking because one of them had just been killed. Their mating had also been disturbed. Males were especially energetic as they were positioned in the forefront.

Miles ran with everything he had and was grateful to his legs.

Wind Mantises were faster than most of the monsters at the same level thanks to the Wind attribute, but they weren't fast enough to catch up with Miles. He made use of the map he drew in his mind earlier and used the obstacles to lose his tail.

He was able to escape and curse them from behind. They shrieked as they couldn’t catch up and could only return to mating once again.

“Thanks to me you will have another go, why are you so mad?” Miles shouted behind them and collapsed to the ground. He was panting and smiling.

He then looked at the orb in his hand and giggled. “Coin, charge it please.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!”