Chapter 973: Vicious Monsters of the Secondary Landmass
Eight months had passed since Krune and the group had arrived at the Secondary Landmass. Until now, they had never tried to go down. Instead, they had been working nonstop to first ease up their livelihood. Since their tickets had been destroyed, they had to spend a lot of time in this place.
Thus, instead of hurrying to obtain Godly Points, they first created a foothold for themselves to have a healthy living. After that, they began to work towards the future of harvesting Godly Points en masse.
Solare was already walking around in his baby steps, so they had to create a fence in the cave to ensure he wouldn't fall to his death. Moreover, in this time, they had created a rope bridge that connected a couple of caves to the top of the rock pillar.
On top of that, they had also created a similar rope bridge to another rock pillar that was almost 80 meters away. This was the thickest rock pillar in their surroundings, boasting a diameter of almost 40 meters.
This was the place they used for almost everything, from leisure activities to training. They had also erected a fence around it so that Solare could play around in the open space. As a growing child, he needed all the space to grow up healthy.
They hadn't figured out how his two passive abilities worked. But since he wasn't even two years old yet, they weren't in a hurry.
The rope bridges were strong and sturdy, allowing them to walk on it without any worries. Not only that, but the Seamstress had figured out another breakthrough with it, layering the rope bridge with a porous pipe of coral through which the ocean water flowed.
This ocean water seeped into the rope bridge, healing any wear and tear it had developed due to use. As the rope was taken from a living organism, the Rope Bush, this was possible. It was because the healing property of the ocean water was also able to keep dead meat fresh indefinitely.
Using this property, they ensured the rope bridge wouldn't ever snap. Once it had been created, life was a lot easier for Krune and the Seamstress. They were able to transport goods from one cave to another without wasting any time.
Naturally, this increased their work efficiency tremendously. Plus, when they hunted fishes in the ocean above, they didn't have to throw most of them away due to being incapable of carrying their bodies in the previous precarious situation of having to traverse using a single rope.
The Paddle was already fully stocked up on food and water. The pool with the Mutated Motor Fishes was in great shape. Since they were being fed the bone tree fruits, they were brimming with power. On top of that, one of them even seemed pregnant.
It was a piece of joyous news as they would soon get more Motor Fishes. Krune also went around in search for bigger caves around the walls, marking some for future use. He had been working on numerous projects, increasing the Rope Bush farm to produce more thread. As for the wood, he was using them to create more tools and weapons.
He was also planning to create a path to the ground. For that, he was working on two routes. The first was to bore his way through the largest rock pillar and reach the ground. The second was creating a staircase that spiraled around the largest rock pillar and reached the ground.
The problem with the latter was the sheer requirement of materials and the risk involved in getting down each time. Though, it also allowed them an avenue to attack the flying creatures. As for the former path, it was discrete and allowed them to reach the ground without alerting any creature.
Then again, creating it was even harder. After all, Krune had to bore through the tough rock pillar for a kilometer before reaching the ground. It wasn't something that he was able to achieve easily. Krune worked on the digging, having created the tools necessary for that.
As for the Seamstress, she was working on making more rope bridges to expand their range. Moreover, she was also hunting fishes for their needs. Using her passive abilities, Coral Wave and Heat Radiance, she was building a house on the top of the largest rock pillar that would allow them to have a comfortable life.
Having lived in the place for eight months now, they noted that the ocean waters had two dominant currents. The first was a warm current that caused the water to become warm. The size of the fish roaming near them was smaller during this time.
And there were fewer predator fishes. In this time, the place turned warmer, causing them to sweat buckets when they worked.
The second was a cold current that was too cold to bear. It was similar to what Krune had encountered at the start when one of his clones was still alive. At present, thanks to his Cold Blood, Krune would be almost fine in the cold currents.
Though, the same couldn't be said to the Seamstress and Solare. The whole area would turn colder during this time. On top of that, the fishes roaming in the waters near them would be the bigger, scarier ones. Krune had even witnessed a Sonic Radar three times during his stay in the Secondary Landmass.
When he noticed it in the waters, he didn't allow the Seamstress from ever setting foot in the waters until he was absolutely sure it had left the place. He knew just how powerful it was. It wasn't an opponent they could face. A single mistake would cause them to be shredded in its mouth. During such times, they couldn't hunt and had to bear the cold.
So, the Seamstress was building this house that allowed them to store enough food to last for six months and was also equipped with thermal insulation. To cool the interior, she could cause the coral walls to emit the heat she had stored in them.
And to cool it, Krune's Cold Blood came in handy. Months passed in such a fashion as Krune hammered a platform into the sides of the largest rock pillar, looking around to see that he was within a cloud.
The cloud was just water vapor that had condensed in the place, unmoving as it formed a layer. He then continued to add platforms around the largest rock pillar, soon peeking out of the cloud as he witnessed the place below, shuddering immediately.
The Seamstress also accompanied him, gazing at the world below in shock.
The place was warm and humid, with abundant sunlight that the cloud layer was emitting. It seemed that the cloud layer wasn't some water vapor that had condensed in the place, but also seemed to contain a mysterious substance in it that emitted light.
This caused the place within to thrive with life. As far as they could see, there was a dense overgrowth. Trees of all shapes and sizes existed in the place. Plus, the terrain wasn't flat. There were quite a few hills and valleys. Not only that, but there was a river that meandered from one end to another, seeming as if the rocks under it had a mysterious property to suck in the ocean water and send it out similarly at the end.
Because of this, a healthy world rich in life was created, too rich in fact that it birthed vicious monsters. Krune and the Seamstress broke into cold sweat as they looked at the face of a creature that was part insect and part monster, positioned only five meters away from them.
It seemed to have been perched on the rock pillar's walls. Though, it wasn't alone. Rather, there were hundreds, if not thousands of the same creature perched all over the rock pillar until the ground. Upon noticing the two, they flapped their wings, emitting a violent screech.
Krune and the Seamstress retreated immediately, running to the top of the largest rock pillar as they patted their chests, calming their thumping hearts. Upon noticing that the creatures didn't come above the layer of cloud, they heaved a sigh in relief.
The face of the creature was a mix between a frog and a butterfly. It had a flabby cheek with insect eyes. As for its body, it was long and aerodynamic, spanning two meters in length. Its wings were curled under a layer of armor, similar to a beetle.
And it had four limbs that looked like armored hands of a monkey, possessing sharp nails that held the sides of the rock pillar. All the rock pillars were covered by them. Krune saw that their wings only allowed them to fly for short durations. Though, their bursts of speed were insane.
He couldn't observe the rest in the short window. After reaching the top, Krune shook his head and got back to work. He intended to finish digging through the largest rock pillar. Even though it was hard work, he didn't mind. Besides, it was still training as he kept using his other abilities.
His Ocean Heart already seemed to have reached its natural limit, but his proficiency in using it was getting better and better. As for Neon Radiance and the others, he still had a bit more to go before he mastered them completely.
Krune also felt that his body was getting accustomed to using them like they were a natural part of him. As time passed, he, too, was evolving. After all, after discussing with the Seamstress, they began to capture fishes alive and stored them in a pool he had dug in one of the large caves.
He used those fishes to create Blood Essence Crystals. Even though the ones he produced were inferior to the ones created using the Monster Geckos, as the fishes used were tiny, they were still useful. Plus, the side effects weren't as strong either.
So, both he and the Seamstress consumed one daily while working, training their bodies as a result since they were using their passive abilities to work. Moreover, once the effects of the Blood Essence Crystal subsided, they quickly drank the Healing Extract, taking a short rest before continuing to work.
This way, their abilities continued to improve. And two years after they had arrived at the Secondary Landmass, Krune finally reached the ground.
Chapter 974: Vicious Self-Sufficiency
Two years since he arrived at the Secondary Landmass, Krune arrived at the bottom of the rock pillar, reaching the ground. Creating a hole for his exit, he peeked out, taking a look at his surroundings.
What he saw through his sight and his Sonic Radar startled him. There was only one monster species in the place, which seemed to go through two stages of life: the pupa and the adult stage.
An adult laid down eggs at the banks of the river. Upon hatching, the hatchling entered the river water, feeding on the tiny organisms living within the pores of the coral reef at the bottom. This seemed to be their prime mode of food.
In any case, the coral reef was vast, spanning the banks of the entire river. Since the river was two kilometers wide, it was massive, stretching for the entire length of the meandering river that spanned from one end to the other of the 300-kilometer-long island.
The depth seemed to average around 300 meters, with some shallow and deeper sections. The larvae were no different from simple worms. After feeding on the organisms in the coral reef, they quickly grew into pupa within a month.
This was the stage they spent most of their life at. The pupa was almost shaped like a frog, capable of swimming in the river. Sometimes, they would feed on the larvae. But oftentimes, they would leave the river water to hunt for food.
Possessing bodies that were around two meters in height, they possessed strong legs that allowed them to jump to a height of ten meters. Their strongest trait was their tongue, which was able to extend to a length of fifty meters.
It was such a tremendous distance that they were fearsome opponents. They didn't have any toxin on their skin, but their tongue seemed to contain a certain neurotoxin that caused numbness to the creatures they attacked.
Then again, there was just one creature on the land, their adult counterpart. Their adult version was bigger, spanning a height of two meters. But, their wingspan was five meters, making them seem bigger than their pupa version.
They were the target of the pupae. Possessing a stinger on their abdomen, they were hunters of the sky, capable of flying at tremendous speeds using their buzzing wings that resembled a mosquito's.
Nevertheless, they primarily fed on the nectar produced by the overgrown flowers of the region that spanned a meter in diameter. Once they had their fill, they latched onto the rock pillars to rest, positioned at a height above 60 meters, beyond the reach of the pupae.
The pupae and the adults often clashed. After all, when they had to feed on the flower nectar, the adult versions had to move within the range of reach of the pupae. So every time this happened, a bloody battle ensued forth.
As for the adults, they laid eggs every three months. They usually laid enough to completely fill up the banks of the river. During the time they laid their eggs, they weren't attacked by the pupae, nor were the eggs targeted.
But once the process was done, the pupae and the adults were fair game to one another. In any case, it seemed cannibalism was the most prime means for them to satiate their fill. It may be because the stronger a pupae became, the more powerful it was when turning into an adult.
Then again, most pupae would begin the evolution process the moment they obtained enough to achieve it. So, the power level difference between a pupa and an adult wasn't too high.
'There should be 15 Kings and 30 mutated monsters here,' Krune thought, seeing a group of pupae leap around as their tongues shot forth, latching onto the wings of the adults. At least three targeted an adult, preventing it from escaping easily.
Their tongues had a powerful adhesive that latched onto their targets. On top of that, the tremendous tension and spring-like capabilities it possessed allowed them to recall their targets swiftly.
This caused a lot of damage to their foes. Though, when a pupa opened its mouth, Krune noticed that in the deeper sections of its throat were multiple rows of teeth that clamped one after another like a meat grinder.
Just a glance at it was enough to churn his stomach and make him wish to puke. This was already considering he was used to crazy levels of gore by now.
Krune observed for a long time as he fully understood the dynamics of the place. He also understood the reason they never left the cloud layer in the first place. It was because the cloud layer contained a certain substance that was capable of melting their wings.
So, if they passed through it, their wings would melt, and they would soon fall to their deaths. With that, they had no way of escaping the place. Though, they didn't have any reason to do so. After all, the place was tremendously huge.
In any case, they were self-sustained. After all, they never had any lack of food in the place. They had plenty of prey in any direction they turned. So, the thought of leaving the place never hit them. There was an overabundance of resources in the place.
Since they had a cannibalistic nature and a tremendous fertility rate, they never ran out of food.
"How's the situation?" the Seamstress asked as she slowly descended to the ground, lodging platforms into the inner side of the rock pillar. The hole Krune dug had a radius of three meters, a reason it had taken him a lot of time, even though he was assisted by the Ocean Heart throughout it.
And among it, the Seamstress had been lodging steps into the inner side so that they could use it to descend and ascend. As she was using her coral to do so, it took some time. But, since it also took time for Krune to dig through it, she was able to keep up the pace.
Moreover, this was only one method of descending. The second was the pulley mechanism they had installed in the place. It allowed them to descend vertically and ascend accordingly.
Moreover, on one side of the pulley was a large bucket where they could stand inside. It had enough space for them to haul any carcass of the monster's kills. On the other end of the rope was a heavy piece of coral that weighed the same as the weight of Krune and the bucket combined.
This way, they wouldn't have to waste too much energy hauling themselves to the top every time. Well, Krune considered it as a form of training for his arms and hips. Not to mention that there was a gear and locking mechanism in the bucket that they could use.
Its prime mechanism was to allow them a smooth travel up and down, controlling the speed of ascent and descent. It also had a braking mechanism and a locking mechanism. This way, they could take breaks in between while traversing up with prey.
The space in the ground had also been widened to act as their ground base, allowing them to store some necessities in the area. They hadn't installed any necessities in the place yet, but it would be done soon enough.
Krune explained everything he had observed for almost half a day to the Seamstress, who nodded in response to everything he said. Then, she proposed a deal as she said, "Let's take turns to hunt. While you hunt, I'll rest here with Solare. This way, I'll be able to hurry to your rescue when necessary. You can do the same while I hunt. And once we finish our hunt, we'll return to the top. Let's spend two days at the top and another two at the bottom."
"Right." Krune nodded."This way, we can keep up with everything in a timely manner."
He then thought something and asked, "So, what's the plan? How do you plan to farm Godly Points?"
"How strong is a mutated monster?" the Seamstress inquired.
"Plenty strong, probably the strongest Mutated species we might ever face," Krune said with a solemn expression, pointing at a certain pupa that had surfaced from the river water, "It seems to be the overlord of this territory. From time to time, it would surface to hunt."
And right as he explained, the mutated pupa leaped out of the water and landed on the ground, showing off its size. It had a height of four meters. From the looks of it, it seemed capable of jumping to a height of 15 meters while its tongue could shoot up to a length of 75 meters.
Every jump of it was accompanied by a thunderous thump as it landed. And it alone was able to kill an adult with a flick of its tongue. When the tongue of others landed on the adult, it only stuck to their wings.
But the tongue of the mutated pupa directly pierced their wings, displaying the sheer power it possessed. Upon seeing it, Krune shuddered for a moment as he said, "We'll easily be thrown off from its power. Unlike the Mutated Monster Gecko I faced before, all the mutated pupa's strength is focused on its legs and tongue. So, its attacks are too strong. Even though its weaknesses are equally glaring, the problem is the range."
"Then, hunting these creatures should only be a test of our strength, to see how far we've grown," the Seamstress said after thinking for a long time, gazing out, "Our priority should be obtaining Godly Points, and not risking our lives needlessly. So…"
Krune nodded, gazing at the shore that was situated quite near to them. "We should steal the eggs. Let's experiment with them and produce enough mutated pupae."
"That's my plan as well." The Seamstress nodded, then looked out, asking, "The question is, how do we obtain enough eggs without alerting them? There are too many monsters nearby. It would be pretty risky. And, once they are alerted of our position, they would be focused on our entrance, preventing us from exiting this place ever again."
"If that happens, we would have no choice but to dig another path in a far-away rock pillar. But..." Krune smiled as he said, "I have a plan against that."
Chapter 975: Supreme Monster
Five days later, Krune and the Seamstress arrived at the bottom of the largest rock pillar once again, holding a large bowl. They had created the bowl by coiling the rope to create the shape.
Using some of the bone powder he had stored, Krune applied a coating on the bowl, making it hard for his enemies to sense them while within it. After all, based on his observation for the past few days, he had figured out that both the pupae and the adults only relied on their sense of smell.
Their mode of perception was their sense of smell. Whether it was the pupae or the adults, both were capable of secreting a sort of pheromone that marked their territory. Though, it wasn't of much use since they were the hunters and prey of each other.
Therefore, they didn't possess any other sensory abilities. Through his probing, this was what Krune had determined. And now, he and the Seamstress had created this rope bowl to shield them while they moved forth.
The bowl had a radius of two meters. It was pretty big. Though, since the entrance was tiny, it couldn't pass through. This was the reason they made it using the rope. With that, it was easy to fold it and bring it out.
It was noon, the time of the day when the activity was lowest among the monster group. After nodding once at each other, Krune and the Seamstress exited the rock pillar, quickly hiding themselves under the rope bowl.
Krune had covered it with the bone powder, also adding some soil and grass on it, ensuring that it looked no different to the nearby ground. This way, they could remain camouflaged. To ensure their scent wouldn't leak out of the rope bowl, they had taken precautionary measures.
After taking a long bath, they applied a crushed mixture of the grass that grew on the ground. This way, their scent was no different from the grass. Thus, the monster groups wouldn't notice anything amiss.
Krune and the Seamstress slowly began to crawl forward. As it fully closed them, they couldn't see or hear anything from the outside. Their only mode of sense was the passive ability of the Seamstress, Thermal Vision.
Through this, they sensed their surroundings and moved accordingly. To ensure they wouldn't be caught, they didn't even converse with one another. The Seamstress poked Krune's back accordingly to give him directions.
In return, he was the one carrying the rope bowl. Thankfully for them, the river bank was less than a hundred meters away from them. Also, since they were closer to the walls of the Secondary Landmass, there were fewer obstacles along their way.
To ensure no one would notice their movement, they proceeded at a snail's pace. At that speed, it took them two hours before they reached the edge of the riverbank, stopping right before a bunch of eggs.
Keeping the dome touching the ground perfectly, Krune unleashed a bit of Neon Radiance, turning around to look at the Seamstress, noticing that she was as tensed as him. Then, the two of them nodded to one another as Krune slightly lifted a part of the rope bowl, using his Sonic Radar gently to scout his surroundings.
As the sound he produced was too little, he couldn't scout too far. Nevertheless, he judged that it was safe. With that, their dome moved forward a little more, barely touching one of the eggs. Each egg was 10 centimeters in height. They were small.
And now, a small hole positioned right beside the egg—on the rope dome—opened. It was what they had planned to stealthily steal the eggs. The opened hole perfectly outlined the egg's shape. The hand of the Seamstress moved, gently touching the egg with a suction tool that she had created using some rope and her coral.
Using that, she gently brought in the egg, placing it within a holder that she had brought. The holder was something she could strap on her back, made from her coral and cushioned using a lot of rope and flesh. As all meat had been kept in contact with a bone tree, it was completely sucked dry of all fluids, ensuring that it didn't emit any smell.
Now, as she stored the egg, there wasn't any disturbance. It would be safe within the holder.
After it was done, they slowly positioned the dome forward, outlining the hole with another egg, taking it in as well. Slowly, they continued to take in the eggs, storing them all in the holder. The Seamstress had brought in three holders in total.
She wore two on her front and one on her back. Krune wore the last one on his back. Each holder was able to store around twenty eggs in total. So, all in all, they planned to obtain 60 eggs from this trip. After a couple of hours, they stopped taking in the eggs, gazing at one another in tension.
The hardest part had now arrived. After all, they had to return back to their rock pillar. But if they simply dashed forth, even if they managed to survive in the end, they would lose all their eggs. On top of that, returning in the same way as they had arrived was hard since the monsters were active now, as it was already evening.
'We have to stay put here until tomorrow.' Krune began to sweat a little, feeling the tension as he looked at the Seamstress as he said, "I thought of something better for our next session."
The Seamstress nodded when her expression changed as she looked above, making eye contact with Krune. Immediately knowing from her expression, he activated his Ocean Heart, circulating the energy through his Cold Blood as he unleashed a thin beam upward.
It passed through the rope bowl and headed out. An adult monster had intended to land on the rock to inspect the eggs once. But, upon feeling a cold breeze all of a sudden, its wings instinctively flapped as it moved elsewhere.
After all, the place was always warm. So, none of them were accustomed to the feeling of cold. So, the moment it perceived some coldness, the adult escaped.
After it left, the Seamstress was still on the watch, using her Thermal Vision to look around, eventually heaving a sigh of relief. Similar situations continued to occur numerous times during the evening and the night.
And every time, Krune made them leave using his Cold Blood in conjunction with his Ocean Heart and Neon Radiance. Eventually, once the morning ended, the activity around them paused as all began to rest.
The adults returned to perch on the rock pillars while some of the pupae retreated into the river. As for the rest, they laid in wait within the forest.
Krune began to move slowly, crawling the rope bowl towards the rock pillar. They had to be cautious. Because if they moved faster, one of the adult monsters might assume them to be prey and attack them.
Thus, they had to move as slow as possible to ensure they wouldn't think of the rope bowl as moving. After all, they weren't as sentient as a human. So, they wouldn't be capable of thinking and logically deduce the positions of the rope bowl with respect to the different time stamps.
Eventually, they returned to the rock pillar's entrance as Krune lifted the rope bowl, tilting it to cover the entrance with it as the Seamstress entered first. She placed the two holders she carried on the ground, helping Krune remove the final one.
After that, Krune folded the rope bowl and brought it inside, shutting the entrance with a door they had created. It was a coral door that was coated with the mud from the rock pillar to keep the same texture. This way, none of the monsters might realize that they were hiding within.
"Phew, that was nerve-wracking." Krune sighed, shaking a bottle that he carried to show that it was almost empty. The Seamstress too patted her bottle, nodding in response. Contained within it was the Healing Extract.
It was what they had used to sustain themselves for the day and to recover the stamina that they were constantly expending. As for the Seamstress, she had been using her Thermal Vision continuously, so she was getting tired with every passing time.
As for Krune, he had to use his abilities to keep any monster at bay. Not only that, but the two had to work in conjunction, using their hot and cold abilities to maintain the condition within the rope bowl to imitate the exterior.
Only in this way would the eggs remain unaffected. Otherwise, they wouldn't hatch. So, they were expending too much stamina and energy to execute the mission. The Healing Extract was what helped them all along.
As they had to move carefully, they couldn't have too much weight. So, they had only brought one bottle of the Healing Extract with them. If they had delayed any longer, their situation might have turned precarious.
The two then brought the 60 eggs to the top of the rock pillar, placing them at the edge of a large pool. This pool wasn't located within a cave but had been created atop a large rock pillar. They had used all the soil Krune had dug to solidify into a pool.
They had created quite a few of such pools, intending them to be used for the eggs. They planned to keep four eggs per pool as Krune looked at the Seamstress, saying, "We'll split them into thirty for each. Let's see how we can develop them."
"Alright, that sounds fun." The Seamstress laughed.
"Also..." Krune chuckled. "Farming for Godly Points is one thing. But, we must also consider the end result."
"You mean…?" The eyes of the Seamstress widened in shock as she stared at Krune.
Nodding in response, Krune replied, "They are a species that can naturally evolve once in their lifetime. Their accumulations during the pupa stage result in how powerful they become at the adult stage. So theoretically, all eggs have a potential to reach the peak."
"And thanks to our bone trees…" Krune expressed in a solemn tone. "If we put in enough effort, we might be able to produce one each…"
"A Supreme Monster."
Chapter 976: The Rock Pillar Farm
"A Supreme Monster."
Hearing his solemn voice, the Seamstress shuddered once. She then pondered over it for a bit before saying, "We would only be able to obtain one active skill from this. If you remember the announcement when Gehen obtained an active ability…"
"Yes, I know." Krune nodded. "But if what I think works, I'll be obtaining an active ability from an entirely different species. Remember how our Motor Fishes began to change after feeding them the bone tree fruits from various fishes? Using that, I plan to change them to what I seek. How about you?"
"I am pleased with the adults," the Seamstress replied. "Though, I am looking forward to how strong they would be as a Supreme Monster."
"Alright, that makes sense." Krune nodded. "What else do you need to make it a reality?"
"At least a couple of alive adults," the Seamstress answered.
"Alright, that's easy." Krune smiled as he explained his plan to the Seamstress. After they had placed the eggs in their respective spots, Krune returned to the bottom of the rock pillar.
He then stood near the entrance, activating his Ocean Heart as he continued to circulate the energy through his blood, causing the coldness in his blood to seep into it greatly. As time passed, the level of coldness within the energy had reached the limit.
Once he was ready, Krune sent a beam of normal Neon Radiance through the tunnel to the top as a signal for the Seamstress.
Standing at the top, the moment she noticed the flash of light, the Seamstress carried with her a large coral container. Contained within it was all the Frozen Blood Krune had amassed over the year. This was the excess after making enough weapons for their needs.
The Seamstress swiftly descended through the staircase Krune had installed on the rock pillar's exterior, passing through the layer of clouds before reaching the final step, looking at the figures of the adults perched on the rock pillar below.
"Happy winter!" she exclaimed with excessive laughter before opening the coral container's entrance, splashing Krune's Frozen Blood all over.
The moment the adult monsters came into contact with the blood, a layer of frost began to form on their bodies. When they tried to take off into the air in reflex, they belatedly noticed that their bodies had turned numb, unable to flap their wings.
They immediately fell, crashing into other monsters perched on the rock pillar. Upon noticing the intense buzz of their wings, Krune judged that the Seamstress had taken action already. He then exited the rock pillar and aimed his hands upward, focusing on the adult monsters perched the lowest on the rock pillar.
They didn't know what was up yet, only intending to fly since there seemed to be a commotion at the top. At the same time, as they flapped their wings and let go of their hold on the rock pillar, Krune smiled, unleashing his Neon Radiance.
This Neon Radiance was white, carrying with it all the frozen effect his Frozen Blood had seeped into the energy of the Ocean Heart that had been circulating through his body all this time. The beam of white hit the closest monsters, causing their bodies to go numb.
Their wings began to fail them as they began to fall from the skies. Krune aimed his Neon Radiance, targeting as many adult monsters as he could.
In the meantime, followed by rapid sounds of descent, the Seamstress arrived at the bottom. She then grabbed hold of the nets they had created, quickly springing them on the adult monsters that were hovering just above the ground, stuttering in their flight from the cold.
Her nets quickly constricted them, causing them to fall on the ground. The Seamstress tied them up before dragging them within the rock pillar, struggling to fit their bodies through the entrance while doing so.
She didn't care for the damage they received in the process, only wishing to keep them alive. After all, she could heal them easily. The moment they had caught five such adult monsters, Krune grunted as he returned.
They swiftly closed their entrance, watching the corpses of some adult monsters crash on the ground before breaking into pieces. They were the ones directly affected by the Frozen Blood the Seamstress had splashed.
Thanks to their aerodynamic bodies, they had fluttered in the air for some time, being lifted off by other adult monsters during the process before eventually landing on the ground.
Krune and the Seamstress didn't care about the dead once, rather focusing on the ones that were alive. They quickly worked on them, clipping off their wings first before tying them tighter. Then, they made trips to the top one after another, transporting an adult monster each time.
After all five were transported to the top, Krune took one for his use while the Seamstress retained the rest. They then promised not to interfere with the tasks of each other and headed to their respective locations.
The pillars they were focusing on these tasks for were situated far away from one another. Krune had picked a location where around ten rock pillars were situated closer to one another. They were situated 200 meters from the largest rock pillar.
The Seamstress had picked a similar location. Having been on the landmass for two years, they had significantly expanded their Rope Bush farm, having created enough rope to construct rope bridges to all the pillars they used.
If they were regular mortals, this wouldn't have been possible. But, they had passive abilities to rely on for everything, not to mention they had abilities that complemented one another, boosting their overall progress.
This was another reason the Seamstress hinted to him that they start a family. But all this time, Krune acted obliviously. Then again, the Seamstress was only stating to him out of obligation and at the fact they were mortals now, susceptible to a short life.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have suggested it either. After all, she had children and even grandchildren in the God Realm.
Krune set the eggs in their respective pools, watching the pools be filled to the brim with ocean water. He had picked a rock pillar on the top of which he was growing bone trees, a lot of them, putting the surface with a radius of 30 meters to good use.
Swimming in one of the pools that had a radius of 20 meters and a depth of five meters were a bunch of Motor Fishes, those he had produced numerous offsprings. Since they were fed with the bone tree fruits daily, they had a surplus of energy in their bodies.
This surplus caused them to mate on every occasion, birthing babies at every interval. After two years of this, the number of Motor Fishes under him alone surpassed thirty. Naturally, this number would only continue to increase.
"The pupae have powerful offense using their tongues. Their legs allow them to leap to great heights. Even though they have significant weaknesses, their strengths make it hard to target their weaknesses. And now, I have to force them to focus on this direction while also changing their species, giving them another advantage," Krune muttered. "The Motor Fish is the perfect candidate for that. If I fuse them and evolve, I wonder how the end result would turn out to be, especially as a Supreme Monster?"
Krune recalled the suffocating presence exuded by the Checkpoint Turtle, wondering just how much time and effort he had to spend to make the eggs before he reached that point.
After a couple of days, all the eggs successfully hatched. And when they did, they jumped into the pool of water nearby, instinctively heading to its bottom for the coral reef. But when they didn't find the coral reef, the larvae were fully confused.
Having observed their actions using his Sonic Radar, Krune knew what they needed. Though, since the bone tree fruit seemed to be a universal food source, judging based on what he had experienced, Krune diced some bone tree fruits into small bits, small enough for the larvae to feed on them without problems.
As a spiritual chef, dicing the fruits to an almost powder-like state wasn't even an issue. He had collected them in a bowl each, pouring into all the pools one after another. He saw the larvae approach them in confusion as one of them gently ate a piece, realizing that it was healthy.
Soon, all the larvae were eating through the bone tree fruit powder. Upon seeing that, Krune sighed in relief. He then continued to feed them more of the powder at regular intervals.
He had placed four eggs in every pool, and six eggs in the final pool, for a total of seven pools. The first batch of bone tree fruits was made using the blood of the adult monster. Krune had healed it considerably while causing it to swallow the bone tree fruits en masse.
He then extracted its blood at regular intervals, making it drink a lot of the ocean water after each process while stuffing it full with bone tree fruits and some meat rich with the Healing Extract. This way, he was able to extract enough of its blood at regular intervals without killing it.
Days passed in such a fashion as Krune continued to feed them until the larvae grew enough to reach the initial stage as a pupa. As for the first six pools, he continued to feed them the bone tree fruits made using the blood of the adult monster.
As for the final pool with six pupae, he began to feed them the bone tree fruits derived from the Motor Fishes. As time passed, the pupae began to grow fully. Krune had already shifted them to separate pools of their own, big enough for them to live, but that was it.
They couldn't jump since the height wasn't much. Though, as the area was high, they could swim within. But no matter what, they couldn't escape from the sturdy cages that were almost twenty centimeters thick.
They were something he had been creating over the past year using the wood of the Rope Bush. After he had understood the secret behind creating a large enough rope bush that was used to make the fishing rod of a Mutated Monster Gecko, Krune delved in this path, eventually unlocking the secret recipe to grow a rope bush that was worthy enough to be used in the Monster Gecko King's fishing rod.
It was what he grew en masse and used in creating the cages of the pupae. So, even after they reach the status as a King, they still wouldn't be able to break past the defenses. After all, the healing effect of the ocean water also healed all the damage it sustained, creating an unbreakable cage.
Moreover, if it still tried to thrash, Krune controlled them by unleashing a cold beam that caused them to curl up into a ball and remain immobile. And with that, both he and the Seamstress had finally kickstarted their plan to farm Godly Points.
Chapter 977: Finalised Passive Abilities
Another six months had passed in such a fashion as Krune and the Seamstress headed down once every three months to retrieve 60 eggs each time. After they had formed a plan of action, they didn't waste any time.
When they headed towards the ground, it was only to scout and observed the behavior of their enemies. With that, they would be able to obtain a greater understanding of them that would further their research and development.
At present, both of them had three goals. First, to continue developing their passive abilities and train daily so that their stamina would improve. Second, create a farm of Godly Points. And third, create a Supreme Monster to obtain an active skill.
With that, their goal in Layer 3 would be achieved. Krune was able to determine how these abilities would help him when he regained his cultivation once again. And upon obtaining numerous ideas, he was pretty excited. He was assured that he would become even stronger among his peers than before.
After obtaining his Spiritual Incarnation, he was like an undying tiger with wings. And now, after obtaining the abilities related to his physique, he was like an undying strong tiger with wings.
When cultivating, Godly Energy was focused on the most. So, everyone only built their cultivation bases. Though, not much of an emphasis was placed on the physical body. Even if they did, their physical bodies had a clear limit.
For a regular human, their bodies were weak. Even though they obtained a boost in strength thanks to their cultivation base, it was limited. There weren't any established methods to cultivate their bodies. But now, having observed their workings for long enough and using his understanding derived from his comprehension of the Balance Laws, Krune determined that the real treasure of this Sub-Realm was the physical cultivation method.
That was why an emphasis on their mortal selves had been placed. Krune determined that by the time he left the Sub-Realm, he would have obtained the physical cultivation method. Godly Energy related to the cultivation base, Mental Energy related to the soul, and now, Physical Energy related to the body. They would form a trinity once he completed them.
Krune realized that he would evolve to a whole new realm of strength in the end, possibly able to skip a major realm in power in the future to combat his opponents.
Just thinking about it made everything he experienced worth it.
Moreover, living as a mortal human allowed him to look at life from a perspective that a Wisp never obtained, even when it was young. So, it was an experience just like what he had desired. Thanks to that, Krune felt he wouldn't face any blocks in cultivating until he reached the peak of the Nascent God Realm.
Krune was currently standing atop a cage, looking at the pupa that had been growing within. Upon seeing him, the pupa opened its mouth and shot out its tongue, smashing the cage. The cage faintly vibrated from the attack, but Krune was assured it didn't even suffer any damage from this.
As the cage was constantly in contact with the ocean water, he supplied water to it with a pipe, healing all damage. While the pupa kept attacking the cage with no effect, Krune had been observing its state all along, sensing the presence built up within it.
As they were grown with bone tree fruits made using the blood of their adult counterparts, all the pupae were growing to become stronger than their counterparts on the ground. As they were growing, the bone tree fruits became insufficient since the source was the blood of only a single adult.
After that, Krune and the Seamstress caught a couple more adults by risking their lives. He took one while the Seamstress took the other. With a second adult, he had an easier time. Moreover, despite their wings being clipped at regular intervals and their blood being drawn out daily, they were growing healthily.
It was because they were being supplied with an unending stream of nutrition. Life was tough because Krune and the Seamstress had to constantly enter the ocean above to kill a lot of fish. Even though he had expanded the bone tree farm to produce enough bone tree fruits naturally through the ocean water alone, he still had to feed the adults with enough meat.
Otherwise, they would refuse to eat the bone tree fruits after a while and would rather starve to death. It seemed they had mental blocks that refused to survive by eating the bone tree fruits alone. So, Krune had no other choice but to hunt the fishes from the ocean.
As the pupae grew further, after four months, quite a lot of them began to spin a web around themselves, turning into a cocoon. A month later, they turned into adults. Once that happened, Krune obtained a lot of blood supply for the subsequent bone tree fruits.
Once they evolved, he used his freezing energy to freeze them to a near-death state, clipped their wings, bound them and tied them up in a cave with the other adults. Moreover, through his experiments, he determined that they only evolved when the climate was warm and humid.
With a change in the temperature, they wouldn't evolve. So, once the cold currents began to flow in the ocean above, the temperate in the place dropped, causing the pupae that had been on the verge of spinning a cocoon to give up and remain as a pupa.
Krune and the Seamstress shared their experimental data with each other, finally obtaining a lot of information to serve their purpose.
Now, as he stood upon the cage, Krune looked at the pupa within, thinking to himself, 'It has already reached the stage of a Mutant.'
At present, Krune was no longer interested in obtaining any other passive ability, settling for the ones he already had. The Ocean Heart was the strongest out of them all, something he didn't even think of swapping. Followed by that was Frozen Blood that had a variety of uses. Then, there was Moving Ripple, allowing them to run on the water surface or swim within it at great speeds.
Having trained for the past two and a half years, Krune had already mastered its use. Following it was his Sonic Radar, an ability that allowed him to scan massive distances using sound. And by training it for long, Krune was able to unleash a sound beyond the audible range, improving this ability to the limit.
He was able to sense around him for ten kilometers without trouble. Within a 100-meter range, he was even able to outline the texture of sand granules clearly. On top of that, if he just focused on one direction, his range went even further.
In the ocean layer, with minimum obstacles, the range was further vast. It was tremendously useful. Even as a cultivator, boosting it using Godly Energy, he couldn't even estimate its range. So, it was incredibly useful.
And finally, he didn't even need to talk about Neon Radiance. It was an ability that unleashed bright light. That alone was useful to see in the dark or blind the eyes of his enemies. Through the Ocean Heart, he was able to transmit the healing effect using Neon Radiance, now able to heal others when necessary, and from afar as well.
Moreover, he was also able to unleash a cold beam by applying the power of Frozen Blood. All in all, he had a well-rounded set of abilities. So, Krune no longer wished to obtain another passive ability. After all, if he did obtain one, he had to train it from the start and develop it. At this point, he didn't have enough time to do that since he was expending energy on a variety of tasks daily.
Besides, all his passive abilities were in need at the moment, so if he swapped it for anything, his work would be hindered. After thinking it through, Krune decided against obtaining any other Passive Ability.
"So, Mutants are enough," he uttered, pulling the plug to the cage as the water within it flowed out. The pupa within looked alarmed when the water level began to fall. Upon noticing the hole, it shot out its tongue, plugging it up.
Smiling, Krune pulled out a couple more plugs, watching the pupa look perplexed, unable to figure out what to do to stop. Soon after, all the water flowed out of the cage.
Krune then faced his palm at the pupa, activating his Ocean Heart as the image of four red rings flashed in his mind. The fourth ring brightened as its energy coursed through his body. He then seemed the freezing effect in his blood into the energy, activating his Neon Radiance as he unleashed a white beam of light.
Once the beam of light fell on the pupa, it shuddered, scurrying about within the cave. Though, as it couldn't jump, its speed of motion wasn't fast. As for Krune, he only had to adjust the angle of his palm. So, it was easy to target it continuously.
Slowly, the pupa started to move slower and slower before it stopped completely, turning immobile as a layer of frost formed on its skin. Krune continued with it as he summoned his tablet, gazing at it until he obtained a Godly Point. He then noticed that the pupa had been turned into an ice sculpture.
Looking at the name displayed on it, he muttered, "So, you're called a Great Dipper."
It seemed that there wasn't a difference in name between the pupa and the adult. So, for convenience's sake, he called them the Great Dipper Pupa and the Great Dipper Adult, respectively. Killing the Mutated Great Dipper Pupa awarded him one Godly Point, nothing unusual.
He similarly began to kill all the pupa that had reached the Mutated status, obtaining a bunch of Godly Points as a result. He then fed their bodies to the bone trees to generate more fruits.
Another batch of pupa were already in a collective pool, still in an infant stage. Krune split them up into each of the pools used by their predecessors, filling the cages up with ocean water once again.
Finishing the process, he arrived at the final rock pillar, gazing at the six pools near one another. They were the pupae that were grown by being fed only the bone tree fruits made using Motor Fish blood.
Chapter 978: A Bunch of Things Occur
The pupa here could already no longer be called Great Dippers. They had already experienced some changes. The first change was the deformation of their limbs. Slowly, over time, their limbs turned into stumps before vanishing entirely.
The second change was them obtaining the same trait as a Motor Fish. In other words, being able to swim in water by generating water currents. Their speed didn't seem to be on the same level as a Motor Fish, but they accounted for that with their offensive ability.
They still possessed their tongue, and it was faster and stronger than before. Krune could feel that they were evolving significantly, judging by the speed of their growth. Nevertheless, it wasn't enough for him. After all, his end goal was to cause them to reach the peak power strength of Layer 3.
For that, he had to increase their evolution potential. For that, he first left them to their devices, ensuring to impede their cocoon stage by always keeping the temperatures around them to below optimal the moment he noticed they began to weave a cocoon.
While doing so, he noticed that it seemed a lot of energy was expended to initiate this process. So, when it was impeded, they didn't attempt to do it for another month. While keeping them as is, Krune focused on the Motor Fishes, those he determined were key to the fruition of his plan.
The first batch of Motor Fish Kings had grown a horn and all that due to being fed bone tree fruits from a variety of fishes. But Krune didn't want that. He wished for them to remain as Motor Fishes to the end, tamed.
So, once they became Mutated Motor Fishes, Krune caused them to selectively breed with the most powerful among them, even going to the extent of creating a large pool for them to live and swim within.
As the area in a rock pillar was limited, he supplemented it with depth, creating deep pools so that they would have a lot of room to plan and move around. And this way, they would exhaust energy tremendous and consume bone tree fruits even more.
Most of the bone tree fruits fed to them were those that grew naturally using the ocean water. But among them, he mixed in some that were grown using their blood. This way, he was trying to accumulate more Blood Essence of their race in their bodies.
As time passed, it seemed to be working as the Mutated Motor Fishes surpassed their natural restriction and eventually became Motor Fish Kings. It had been five years since they had arrived at the Secondary Landmass when the Motor Fishes became Kings.
As they were still Motor Fishes, they were tamed by him, even though they were kings. Krune had a total of 10 Motor Fish Kings under him and almost a hundred Mutated Motor Fishes now. Having been working nonstop for years, he had developed the place significantly.
As for the Seamstress, she too had her respective gains. As for Solare, from morning to until he slept, he hopped around from his working place to the Seamstress. On seeing that he was having fun, they left him to his devices, teaching him the alphabet, language, and numerous other skills during their resting time.
They hadn't figured out his passive abilities yet, but he was still young, so they weren't pressed for time.
One fine day, while he was working, Krune felt something instinctively, summoning his tablet to see that he was notified of a message.
[The First King, Gehen has captured a Primary Landmass, designating humanity's first stronghold.]
There was then a large arrow mark on the tablet, pointing in the direction they had to travel before reaching the location.
"Way to go." Krune smiled and retracted his tablet, muttering, "Now, we don't need to worry about a place to head towards."
Even otherwise, it wasn't their concern in the first place. After all, the Seamstress had already marked Gehen's pirate ship and a couple other places using her passive ability, Bubble Touch. So, one way or another, they would be able to reach a Checkpoint Turtle without getting lost.
Krune checked the condition of the six pupae that were grown using the bone tree fruits from the Motor Fish blood. At the start, they fed on the Mutated Motor Fish blood-based bone tree fruits. Once a Motor Fish King had been birthed, Krune only used their blood to create bone tree fruits and feed them.
Because of that, they had also reached the status of a King. Krune didn't know what species they were now, but he could determine that they were no longer a Great Dipper.
Appearance-wise, they were still the same as the start, possessing a limb-less body with a powerful tongue. And once they had become kings, it seemed they got a further boost in power as their tongues were able to damage the cage he had created.
Then again, Krune wasn't worried because he had already expanded the thickness of the cage to a crazy extent. This way, even if they continued to attack for an entire day, they would only be able to crack through half the thickness.
After that, they would become tired. Once they rested and recovered, they would see to their dismay that the cage had fully healed from the damage. As the cages were damaged and healed daily, it seemed to have experienced a tempering of sorts.
It was like an iron being repeatedly hammered to forge a stronger weapon. Over time, they had become so strong that even a king monster was unable to damage it. Over time, Krune began to call it the Tongue Fish, as it was literally that.
Also, since they had been consuming nothing but the blood of the Motor Fishes in the form of bone tree fruits, over time, the tamed nature of the Motor Fishes kicked in, causing them to submit to Krune. Because of it, the attacks on the cages were reduced.
Krune then made an incision on a Motor Fish King and tied it up to a bone tree that had been exclusively grown only using the blood of a Motor Fish King. Once it died, Krune allowed the bone tree to grow.
It was placed in a rock pillar exclusive to it, so it could grow without any hindrance. Almost three months later, it bore a colossal fruit that was as big as a Motor Fish King. Krune harvested it and fed it to the oldest Motor Fish King, having made enough preparations by even feeding it a Water Essence a day before.
So, even though it faced a lot of problems, it managed to swallow the fruit whole in the end. Ten days later, it became a Motor Fish Emperor. At this point, even Krune couldn't believe his eyes, upgrading the Motor Fish to such an extent when it seemed a Mutated status was their racial limit.
He then continued to feed it daily while using its blood to water new bone trees, using the produced fruits to feed the six Tongue Fish Kings. Krune was obtaining Godly Points from both the Mutated Great Dippers and the Mutated Motor Fishes.
At this point, the amount he obtained from the Motor Fishes was thrice the amount he was getting from the Great Dipper. It was because when he released some Motor Fish Kings into the pool with the Motor Fish Emperor, they had mated furiously, birthing a lot of Motor Fishes that seemed to be a new species.
And, when these Motor Fishes reached adulthood, they reached the Mutated status naturally. Once that happened, Krune killed most of the old Mutated Motor Fishes and regular Motor Fishes. This was to prevent polluting the new, improved bloodline.
He didn't kill any after that, allowing them to breed for a couple more years in the meantime resulting in three Motor Fish Emperors, 12 Motor Fish Kings, and around 20 Mutated Motor Fishes.
From this point onward, any Motor Fish that was birthed would reach Mutated status naturally upon reaching adulthood. And the best thing of them all: they were tamed by him.
Eight years since he arrived on the Secondary Landmass, Krune gazed up, noticing the ocean shining with Neon Radiance as he looked at the message displayed on his tablet.
[The Second Wave begins.]
As he was within the Secondary Landmass, Krune was unaffected by it, gazing up at the light spectacle with the Seamstress and Solare, chatting freely about how they struggled with the First Wave.
Soon, they made a move, using their fishing nets to capture more than thirty Neon Radiance Fishes. As one of their core passive abilities, they wouldn't say no to obtaining an upgraded version of the same.
"Do you wish to obtain Heat Radiance?" the Seamstress asked him, "It might turn out to be stronger than what I have right now."
"I'll pass." Krune laughed. "I am focusing on just Neon Radiance. The stronger I can obtain it, the better. Heat Radiance would negate my Frozen Blood."
"Alright," the Seamstress said before grabbing hold of Solare. She then asked, "Which one do you like, Heat Radiance or Neon Radiance?"
Solare innocently looked at the faces of two, feeling formless pressure from the Seamstress before he spoke, "H-Heat Radiance."
"Great! That's my boy!" She laughed, carrying him with her as they went about making merry.
Krune laughed at the sight, for a moment tranced by the atmosphere when he shook his head. "Focus!"
Setting aside 10 Neon Radiance fishes for Solare, Krune and the Seamstress took ten each. He killed one of them first, feeding the body parts forcefully to the remaining nine, turning them all into Neon Radiance Kings, for a moment cursing his rash actions as he understood just why they were feared by the Neon Radiance fishes.
They were called the Neon Radiance King, and hence, possessed as much strength as a Monster Gecko King. Even though he had been training for so long, Krune wasn't able to handle such a large group.
He was able to kill a Monster Gecko King one on one, albeit suffering life-threatening injuries. Though, subduing them all was incredibly hard. Upon seeing them thrash around without a care in the world if they would break the rock pillar forming their cage, Krune felt a headache.
Chapter 979: Entering the Final Phase
"Now, how do I deal with this mess?" Krune frowned, feeling a headache as the Neon Radiance King turned out to be stronger than he had thought. Though surprisingly, he didn't mind them thrashing about. After all, each Neon Radiance King had been locked in a separate cage of its own.
And these cages were made to withstand the attacks of a monster king long enough while the ocean water would heal their damage. Krune glanced around, noticing numerous pipes scattered throughout. They were the rope pipes transporting water to every rock pillar.
The farther they went from the wall, the greater the cluster of water pipes that formed at the topmost cave since it was where the water was being drawn from. Then again, the Seamstress did a fairly great job at preventing everything from being too clustered.
She replaced some of the pipes by increasing their diameter, allowing them to transport a greater flow of water from the water tank. This way, their work was done quickly.
Once the tanks for the nine Neon Radiance Kings were filled, Krune sat near the tank of one of them, closing his eyes in thought, even going to the extent of shielding his eyes with his hands to prevent going blind. The Neon Radiance King was unleashing insanely strong beams of light without rest.
The moment it heard a sound, it would unleash light in that direction. This was just the light it emitted. Its physical prowess was on the same level as a Monster Gecko King. Krune didn't bother with them for the time being, feeding them bone tree fruits daily.
He first fed them the normal bone tree fruits while going about with his other tasks.
The Motor Fishes were increasing in numbers pretty well. So, in order to cause a population boom, he only created more pools for them to live within, watching with giddiness every time their population boomed.
As for the Great Dipper, upon noticing how he was struggling to manage them, he gave them all to the Seamstress, who was more than happy to accept them all. As she was focusing on them, the ones he had grown were tremendously helpful for her.
After hugging him once in happiness, she rushed forth, leaping in joy from time to time as all the Mutated Great Dipper Pupa and Adults he had created numbered around thirty by now. On top of that, it seemed that his methods were greatly different from hers, so the Mutated versions turned out slightly different.
To the Seamstress, this only meant she had a higher chance of succeeding. After she left, Krune increased the size of his Motor Fish farm, also using all the pools that the Great Dipper Pupae were using before.
With that, his work was halved while his efforts were bound to fruition faster. This was why he gave all the Great Dipper Pupae and Adults to the Seamstress. On the scale of efficiency, he had achieved the highest with the Motor Fishes.
When the group of Mutated Motor Fishes in a pool had reached the limit, he killed them all. After that, he scooped the pool water that was filled with their blood and watered all the bone trees, feeding the produced bone tree fruits to the other growing Motor Fishes.
Once the pool was empty, he cleaned it and filled it with the ocean water, bringing two Mutated Motor Fishes into it. He then left them to their devices to mate eventually, ensuring he fed them with a lot of bone tree fruits daily so that their excess pent-up energy would cause them to mate more.
When he checked the rankings, he noticed that some of the top rankers had already left Layer 3. Not only that, but it seemed they already managed to obtain an active ability, shocking Krune. "I guess there are strong individuals everywhere."
As ten million people were brought into the layer every month, geniuses from numerous continents appeared one after another, swiftly going up the rankings. Most of them struggled for the first couple of years, accumulating strength. After that, they began to hunt in the Primary Landmasses, reaping a profit of 10 Godly Points every year.
There were those that had already entered quite a few Secondary Landmasses, managing to obtain at least 20-30 Godly Points each time. Because of this, the rankings continued to change constantly as new people entered the top hundred while the old ones headed for Layer 2 once they thought they had obtained enough benefits from the place.
Krune was checking the rankings intensely for the first two years during his stay in the Secondary Landmass. After that, as the rankings continued to change constantly and since he was only staying in the Secondary Landmass, he stopped bothering about it after a while.
After that, he only checked a single ranking, and that was the ranking of the Kings. At present, there were eight of them in total, signifying that eight people had managed to obtain an active ability. Among them, Krune noticed two familiar names, Princess Zamuria and Cultivator.
As their names were dull, it signified that they were either dead or had left Layer 3. Since all the other names were also the same, Krune knew that they had reached Layer 2. He couldn't think how someone with an active ability could die in Layer 3.
He then looked at the sole flashing name in the ranking. It was Gehen. Having decided to settle in Layer 3, despite being unable to obtain Godly Points any longer, Gehen was still making wide strides.
He was capturing a Primary Landmass once every two years. And the people that arrived were able to head towards these Primary Landmass to survive.
Shaking his head, Krune continued to work. A year later, by condensing the Blood Essence of a Neon Radiance King and causing another Neon Radiance King to swallow it, killing it after that, Krune repeated the cycle until he finally obtained a Neon Radiance Emperor.
He determined a simple solution for that. He tossed a Blood Essence Crystal to the first Neon Radiance King, watching it swallow that as its body was filled with energy. When the energy ran out, the side-effects kicked in, causing it to become immobile for a while. During this time, he easily killed it, repeating the process until he killed the final of the nine that had become an emperor by this point.
After absorbing the Blood Essence Crystal resulting from it, Krune had obtained a new passive ability, Neon Radiance King. The only difference in the name as displayed in the tablet was the suffix King. While using it, he noticed that it was more powerful than his previous Neon Radiance.
He was able to expend a greater level of energy while activating it than before, causing the intensity of light to be even stronger. Thanks to it, all his other abilities had also experienced a boost. On top of that, he noticed that its potential for development was higher than Neon Radiance. So, Krune was happy with it.
"Now, except for my Sonic Radar, all my other abilities are the strongest of their king," Krune muttered, laughing in joy. He wasn't worried about others obtaining an active ability before him. It was because he was taking his time to train and develop his passive abilities to their strongest state.
Having witnessed Layer 4 and Layer 3, Krune could easily guess that Layer 2 would be no different. He would remain a mortal there as well. So, in that case, it was better to take time in his base of comfort and head to Layer 2 only when he knew he was truly ready enough.
12 years since he arrived in the Secondary Landmass, Krune beamed with a smile, gazing at the six Tongue Fish before him that had reached the Emperor status. They were all brimming with enough power that even he shuddered while looking at them.
Nevertheless, he wasn't in the least scared by them. After all, they were fully tamed by him now. Since birth, they hadn't killed even a single living being, living solely on the bone tree fruits. This had dulled their vicious nature.
Moreover, since they were being fed with Motor Fish blood-based bone tree fruits that forced their evolution to proceed in such a direction, they had practically become a harmless species. Moreover, due to the instinct of the Motor Fish becoming dominant in them, they had completely submitted to Krune.
They hadn't just reached the status of an Emperor, but had already reached the peak for it. They no longer had any room for growth. Just in case the experiment failed, Krune didn't wish to lose all his progress.
So, he placed two of them in a pool for the first time in their lives. Urged by his commands, it didn't take long for them to mate. A month later, four eggs were laid. Another month later, they hatched. And, they reached adulthood within six months, reaching the status as a Mutated monster.
Upon seeing that they had all the traits as their Supreme Monster parents, Krune made the others mate as well. A year later, he had enough contingency measures to kickstart the plan to fruition soon after.
He then took in a deep breath, causing a bone tree to absorb the blood from now one, not two, but all five at the same time. During the past year, he grew this one bone tree from scratch, using only the blood of the Emperor Monster that he determined as the strongest of the six and had the highest potential for growth.
And now, he simultaneously caused this particular bone tree to absorb the blood of all the other five Emperor Monsters. When the blood of five Emperor Monsters was absorbed at the same time, a mysterious reaction of sorts seemed to have been sparked as their bodies began to shrink.
It took a month for the process to end as not even their skin was left behind. As for the bone tree, it had grown to a height of 50 meters, requiring an insane supply of water daily. Otherwise, it began to show signs of wilting.
Moreover, the bone tree seemed to be absorbing essence from the rock pillar itself as it began to show signs of cracking.
Chapter 980: Cloud Whale
It took another year from that point before a tiny fruit grew on the 50-meter-tall bone tree. Surprisingly though, the fruit seemed like it was nothing special.
From afar, the Seamstress noticed his actions, smiling as she shook her head, muttering to herself, "This guy…"
Krune carefully plucked the fruit, noticing the tree begin to wilt immediately like wet grass dropped in the middle of the desert. He judged that it would finish wilting within an hour at this pace. He could also hear the rock pillar rumbling as a result as it began to destabilize.
Krune hurriedly returned, also not forgetting the sever the rope bridge connecting to it. He didn't want the crumbling rock pillar to hit the other rock pillars because of this rope bridge, which was stretched completely taut.
After he discovered the method to grow King-level Rope Bushes, the rope bridges created out of it were even sturdier. With that, there was a good chance the rope bridge would pull the crumbling rock pillar towards the rock pillar connected by it.
It took Krune more than ten minutes to finish severing it as he was sweating by the end of it, having forgotten to bring his Whale Tooth Sword. He could only use the knife he usually carried, so it took him time to cut it off.
Once it was done, he traveled far away, sighing when he noticed the rock pillar crumble like sand. It didn't fall on any other rock pillars and just crumbled to the ground, creating a massive dust cloud in the process.
The only ones to be affected by it would be the Great Dippers living beneath the cloud layer. Krune wasn't concerned about that as he looked at the fruit in his hand that was only the size of his palm. He then cautiously approached the pool where he had relocated the final of the six Emperor Monsters that he had taken more than a decade to grow.
"I hope you succeed," Krune said solemnly as he tossed it into the opened mouth of the Emperor Monster below. There was nothing else he could do other than this. It was the time of warm currents in the ocean above, so the place had turned warm.
Not only that, but he no longer hindered it from trying to form a cocoon, which he had done for more than a decade. The moment it swallowed the fruit, the Emperor Monster closed its mouth, seemingly struggling as its nerves became highlighted on its skin, seemingly on the verge of bursting.
And to survive, since it was no longer hindered while the climatic conditions were perfect, it began to form a cocoon. This was the reason he went with this species to achieve his target the moment he saw it.
It was the characteristic of the species itself. A pupa would form a cocoon and evolve into its adult form. This evolution was their principal characteristic that he could use. After all, the stronger it grew while in the pupa stage, the stronger it was as an adult.
Though, as all pupae began to form a cocoon the moment they met the requirements, Krune wasn't able to find out their limit.
Simply based on his experience, its Mutated version seemed the strongest out of the numerous Mutated species he had seen. Not only that, but he had also chanced upon their King versions, among both the pupa and the adult, realizing that both were even stronger than a Sonic Radar, the strongest King he had ever seen. In that state itself, they had already reached the same level of strength as a Monster Gecko Emperor.
With that, Krune was assured that once the monster had reached its limit as an Emperor Monster, and if it spun a cocoon, it would be able to reach the next stage. After all, it had the highest growth potential. Moreover, he was boosting it with the bone trees by concentrating the Blood Essence of their race in their bodies for decades.
And as he had experimented and collated during his thirteen plus years of stay in the Secondary Landmass, the Emperor Monster began to form a cocoon around itself, finishing the entire process within a couple of days.
He noticed that some of its blood vessels had ruptured from the sheer density of energy circulating through it. But in the end, it finished creating a cocoon. Krune looked at it as days turned into months and months turned into years.
Three years later, the cocoon forming it cracked, breaking little by little. Upon seeing it, tears began to well from his eyes as he had spent tremendous time on it.
"Yes! Yess! Yesss!" Krune touched the ground as he cried, watching the cocoon completely break to reveal a creature that was serene, having the gentlest of appearance. The moment it appeared, even the air surrounding air turned a tad warm, occasionally accompanied by cold winds that made the place peaceful and refreshing.
It had a long, streamlined body, shaped like a whale with a flat top and bottom. On its forehead grew a horn, spanning a length of five meters. On top of that, its tail was like a tadpole's. Attached to its end were a pair of fins, creating a beautiful curve.
Attached to the sides of its body were a pair of fins that were a mix between wings and flappers, looking like it was made using an elastic material of sorts that caused it to expand into large wings or contract it into tiny retractable flippers when necessary.
Lastly, it had a pair of humane eyes that blinked, with every flap of its eyelids mesmerizing. Overall, it had a hint of peacefulness to it that prevented anyone seeing it from harboring any sort of animosity against it at all.
Supreme Monster!
'D-Do I have to kill it?' Krune felt his thoughts stammer as he looked at it. He wasn't an individual with staggering killing intent in the first place. He was someone who only killed when necessary. Even though he had reaped a lot of lives in the past decade, enough to amass a tremendous quantity of killing intent, it only took one look at the creature before him to forget all notions of killing.
He craned his hand, gently placing it near its eyes, watching the eye focus on him, expressing a humane helplessness. Upon seeing the expression, Krune was confused before frowning, noticing a blood vessel next to its eye rupture, spilling blood on him.
At first, since he had planned to kill the Supreme Monster and absorb its blood, Krune had swallowed two Water Essence, their final stock. The remaining two were in the hands of the Seamstress for her use.
And now, he stared helplessly as blood vessels on the Supreme Monster burst one after another, spilling its blood on him. Krune stared at it with widened eyes, making eye contact as it seemed to be able to convey its emotions and thoughts to him through eye contact.
'I succeeded in the evolution, but my body is unable to handle the resultant stress.'
'I'm about to die now.'
'So, take me with you!'
"A-Alright." For some reason, he began to cry involuntarily as Krune stretched his hand, placing it near the biggest wound in its head, noticing its eye stare at him with an expression of content.
Slowly, its eyes lost focus, losing their light as it slowly closed its eyes. Immediately, something stirred up from within it as its blood essence spilled out through its bleeding injury, touching Krune, seeping into him slowly to the extent he didn't even feel any pain.
It seemed until its final moments, it was a creature that was the embodiment of peacefulness. Even while its essence seeped into him, it made it painless. Krune stared at it for two days as its blood essence seeped into him before stopping.
Its body slowly began to dissipate as particles of light, vanishing as even its blood followed suit, leaving behind a Krune that was seated on the ground, panting as he shed tears once again.
"Why couldn't it just be a monster that would have killed me if I slipped up even the slightest?" Krune hugged his knees, continuing to cry as he was depressed. He remained within the place for two more days before he got up due to hunger, unable to endure it any longer.
After eating, he slept. For the next one week, he did not do anything but alternate between the two, finally getting over it as he brisked himself, smacking his cheeks as he summoned his tablet.
[Killed Supreme Monster (Cloud Whale): Obtained 10 Godly Points]
[Obtained Active Ability: Cloud Whale]
There was an announcement to everyone in Layer 3 about the birth of the tenth king.
"Wait, tenth?"
He then looked at the name of the person in ninth place, surprised as he heard a series of footsteps before the Seamstress arrived, telling him, "You were depressed for the past week, so I didn't get the opportunity to tell this to you. But it seems I was a couple of hours earlier than you."
Krune laughed after hearing that. "I guess it's congratulations to the both of us. We managed to obtain everything we needed from this layer."
"Let's head out for a walk, then. We hardly ever relaxed for the past 17 years. It seems even though we have become mortals, our cultivator mindset hasn't vanished yet." The Seamstress laughed as she accompanied Krune, heading out as they walked on a rope bridge, taking in a refreshing breath of fresh air.
Now that they had achieved all their objectives, they felt free of stress, wishing to just lay back and relax. As they walked, Krune asked, "What do you plan to do once you return to the God Realm?"
"Same old, same usual." She laughed. "I don't think I'll ever get bored of repeating what I had been doing before I arrived here."
She then looked at Krune, asking, "What about you? Do you have any plans?"
"I'll start searching for Feifei while cultivating to become an immortal so that I can bring my kids to the God Realm." Krune sighed once. "It's been too long since I last saw them. As a mortal, the passage of time is an unbreakable curse. I feel like I can't even remember the faces of my wife and kids that clearly anymore."