Chapter 60: Docile
Beasts didn’t just ignore tasty meals.
Not all of them were cannibals, but if they encountered prey of a different species and a lower grade, their reaction was essentially set in stone. So, Percy had no clue why the flying lizard decided to spare him all of a sudden.
‘Come to think of it, there was something off with its mana.’
He hadn’t cared at the time, but the creature’s core burned less intensely than it should for its size. The flow in its channels also appeared stilted and the colour muted.
‘Is it sick? Blind even?’
If it hadn’t seen him nor used Mana Sense, it would explain how he got lucky. Then again, that didn’t sound right. Percy was pretty sure the creature had gone out of its way to avoid him. Not attacking had been a conscious choice.
‘Maybe everything here is docile. Could be something in the fog.’
His own species were the least aggressive beasts he’d ever seen, and they seemed to thrive off the substance. Either way, there wasn’t enough data to tell for sure. In any case, Percy wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Since he got a second chance, he resumed his journey, this time flying higher to more easily escape to the clouds in a pinch.
A while later, he found something else worth noting. Splitting the plain in half, a river gushed through the stone. It was wider than the Guild’s settlement, and he couldn’t tell what lied at either end as it trailed off in the mist. He wasn’t even sure if it was water flowing through it. The liquid was a light brown colour. If it was water, it was polluted by the same substance permeating the air.