Up close, Mike was able to see that though the soldiers, for it was obvious that they served some sort of military function, had appeared similar from afar, they were actually a mix of the same species that he had studied earlier. He noticed though, that although they may have looked different from the outside, they all projected an air of deadliness that made him wary, this was especially true of the one standing front and center, who Mike guessed to be their leader. He stood head and shoulders over Guigui, with a strangely human-like face, only many times larger, and it almost appeared to be formed from carved stone. As Mike took in the entire beings figure, he noticed that that description generally fit everything he could see of the entity, although Mike did notice that his arms looked a bit off. It was several moments later when he realized what bothered him about the man’s arms: there were no veins. Warriors typically had muscular hands and protruding veins, evidence of the many hours they spent training and wielding weapons, but although the creature before him certainly had muscular hands, they were smooth like river rock.

A nudge from Guigui brought Mike to the present and he realized he had totally zoned out whatever the leader had just said to him. Cursing his sudden inability to focus ever since waking up and ignoring the awkward silence that was only heightened by the number of faces staring at him, a feeling that he hadn’t experienced since facing the horde of hobgoblins, and before that since middle school, Mike cleared his throat and said, “Ahem.. Pardon me, what did you say?”

The leaders face remained completely blank, although Mike did notice a slight flaring of his nostrils as he replied, “I asked what brought you to the camp.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you the first time.” Mike said, feeling the pressure of speaking in front of so many.

“So I gathered.” This time the man’s face truly was like granite, and he betrayed no emotion as he continued. “Are you going to answer the question now or continue standing there like a young pupach.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what a pupach is.. aah “

Mike’s response was cut short as the tall soldier appeared directly in front of him, so close that only a single inch separated Mike’s nose from the beings waist, forcing him to cock his head completely backwards in order to maintain eye contact. The angle was such that Mike could only barely see the very square jawline above him and nothing else. Although he sensed nothing from Damage Premonition, he feared that he had only moments to make himself understood before confrontation ensued and knowing that he likely wouldn’t survive an encounter with the creatures surrounding him, Mike hastened in his reply.

“The System sent me here. I am not sure why, other than it is part of a Quest in order to save my home.”

His words must have meant something, because the being took a large step back, making Mike’s neck only ache slightly as he continued to focus on the man’s face. He was too proud to not look someone in the eye, and besides, his mother had drilled into him that it was rude.

“Hmmmmm” the soldier's voice seemed to resonate with the ground as he considered MIke’s words, “so you are an anomaly. That is an interesting piece of news and explains why your space-time travel released you the way that it did. Your Administrator must have wanted you to die the moment you arrived. Blarney will want to see you.”

The unvoiced command to follow was clear as he turned away from Mike and began walking back the way he had come, the soldiers parting on either side of him as he reached their ranks. Guigui’s sharp push from behind nearly caused him to fall over, and forced him to channel another two Dexterity into Strength in order for him to stay upright and walk. Grateful for the continued assistance, he turned his head and sent a short nod in the hippophant’s direction, before he hurried to catch up to the retreating form. This simple exercise was enough to cause him to feel totally fatigued, which worried him. He hadn’t felt this tired from simply walking since those first days after his major life-saving surgery back in the 70’s.

Within a few minutes they turned around a bend in the canyon, cutting off his view of the crowd who had rescued him.

For the next 10 minutes, he did his best to keep up, despite simply not having enough resources to do so. When he tried moving more Dexterity into Strength, he found that he was too slow to keep up with the giant’s pace, and when he didn’t he found that he barely had the strength to walk.

[Congratulations on your effective training! +1 Strength]

Having never received a stat increase for any kind of training that wasn’t related to a level up, Mike was momentarily confused, which translated to him slowing his pace slightly. A painful jolt from behind lifted his body into the air and sent him sprawling into the ground.

Spitting blood from his mouth, he turned his face to see the jeering smiles of the guards that followed behind him. One of whom approached his downed form with a cruel gleam in his eye.

“You better hurry up or there will be more where that came from you filthy Terran.” The female said.

Once again grateful for his time spent in boot camp, he pushed through the pain and got back to his feet, the single point in Strength enough to noticeably, if only slightly, make his walk easier. The brown walls seemed to go on endlessly as he struggled forward. Though he could focus little on his surroundings, he was pretty certain that he had yet to see any kind of branch or small offshoot from the main path. The laborious monotony went on for another 20 minutes before he received another point to Strength, at which point, he was able to walk mostly normally, although with only 19 effective Dexterity, he still felt woefully slow and uncoordinated compared to his pinnacle as a boss monster on earth.

Finally, after another 10 minutes, the pathway in front of Mike dropped down and the canyon widened as Mike rounded a corner. Where before the canyon had been 200 yards wide at its widest, the area they were now entering was closer to a half a mile. Straight in front of him and maybe a mile away, the canyon wall disappeared completely and Mike could make out what appeared to be a desert. Meandering out from the canyon's entrance wound a turquoise blue river, which Mike traced back to where it emerged from a gaping hole in the wall, only a few hundred yards away from him.

Mike forced himself to not dawdle over the scene, wary of being hit from behind again. Still, as he got closer to the sight, he noticed that as the river came out of the canyon wall, it naturally bent in a U-shape creating a highly defensible position that was surrounded on one side by water and on the other side by a sheer rocky wall. The river then turned back outwards towards the middle of the gorge and continued towards the mouth of the canyon. Positioned within the dry space, were a smattering of buildings, which were accessed by a sturdy bridge that started near the mouth of the cave and arced 20 feet above the water's surface at its highest point. Two rows of traffic traversed the bridge in opposite directions, their movements rhythmic as they flowed into and out of the cave's mouth.

As the distance between Mike and the bridge decreased, he noticed that many of the figures wore a yoke across their shoulders, with large buckets ranging from roughly 5 gallons to 50 gallons strapped on either side of the wooden poles. From his current vantage point, he couldn’t see what was in the buckets, but as he got closer, he thought he noticed a faint purplish glow emanating from them. It was hard to tell for certain however, due to the brightness of the day. As he got even closer, he realized that all of the figures carrying buckets wore collars about their necks, which were identical to the collars that his rescuers had worn. Finally, he became aware of some individuals who were dressed in the same armor as his escort, who stood 10 yards apart and inspected the line as it passed their positions.

As the small procession neared the bridge, Mike became aware of a small path on the outside of the bridge’s balustrade, which the large soldier in front of him angled towards and began crossing. Compared to the giant’s frame, the footpath seemed tiny, and it wasn’t until Mike reached the bottom of the path and started on it that he found it was actually 4 feet wide, plenty of space for his frame, even if the behemoth had to hunch his shoulders slightly.

As he reached the crest of the bridge, Mike stole a glance through the railing at the struggling workers, who despite their heavy burdens, managed to walk down the slope of the bridge at the same speed they walked up it, their frames leaning awkwardly backwards as they strove to counteract the gravitational force pulling them forward while balancing the large weight on their shoulders. This was especially impressive to him, since in his weakened state, he had a hard time not falling forward without any load of his own.

Speed walking the last few feet of the bridge, he barely managed the crossing without making a fool of himself, and was relieved when he was once again walking up a gentle slope towards the buildings. The line of workers angled away from his trajectory, towards a building leaning up against the wall of the canyon, while he followed the path of the lead soldier towards the center of the outpost village.

Finally, the soldier approached a gate set amidst a 10 foot high earthen wall. Upon entering the gate, Mike saw a small villa that looked to be inspired by both Latin and Asian design. Miniature pagodas sat within the small garden that took up the majority of the space within the villa’s walls. The garden screamed of a desperate attempt for culture despite the desperate bleakness of the surrounding landscape, and Mike found it breathtaking.

As they neared the front steps, the prospect of learning about new herbs proved overwhelming, and Mike stopped in front of a particularly fragrant patch of grass, immediately earning a hard shove from behind that sent him sprawling. Angrily righting himself once more, he hastened the 40 feet to stand beside the soldier at the villa’s door.

No sooner had he arrived than the soldier lifted the dark metal knocker on the doors surface, tapping gently four times.

“Come” a rough voice called from within.