Chapter 4: First Blood, First Essence
Ryan was still marveling at the fact he’d basically inhaled some glowing moss spores. When a sound cut through the eerie quiet of the Shifting Wilds.
It was a scream.
A very human, very terrified scream. It was sharp and then abruptly cut off, followed by a series of high-pitched, yelping snarls.
The sound came from somewhere deeper in the misty jungle, not too far from where he guessed Boulder’s trail had led.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Ryan muttered, his brief moment of SSS-Tier triumph vanishing like ice cream on a hot sidewalk.
"Someone else already found trouble? This place is not messing around."
His first instinct, the sensible part of his brain that had successfully navigated him through life without being eaten so far, screamed, "Run Away! Go Back to the Nice, Clean Dome! Hide in Your Pod!"
But then another thought, a newer, more curious and slightly reckless thought, whispered, "But what if there’s something to extract? From the screamer? Or from whatever did the screaming-to?"
His "Ultimate Infinite Extraction System" was hungry for new experiences, it seemed. And maybe, just maybe, he could actually help. Or at least see what he was up against.
He hesitated for only a moment. The yelping snarls were still echoing, mixed with frantic rustling sounds. If he was going to investigate, he needed to do it now.
"Alright, sensible brain, you can panic later," he told himself, gripping his cheap Utility Knife a little tighter.