For the next few days , Mike continued to observe a a repeated schedule; wake up, hunt for food, find out a new thing about the place he was in and the way his new world works, experiment on the native species of plant and animals , and find out the fastest way to kill anything that could pose a threat to his life , hunt a little more find a safe place to retire for the day , prepare the place a bit, before retiring for the day. As a result he gradually acclimatized to his new environment. And even if he could now kill a lot of things faster with poison, traps or even by actively hunting them, he was no way near the top of the food web..... but he was not anywhere near the bottom either . Also, he now had set standard both for his safety and for his meals as fortunately, the items on his 'can eat list' had increased. He also developed some principles which he would not violate . This was done as a measure to prevent losing himself to the ways and laws of the wild . Also, for every minute that passed , the pull that the fragments which he believed were the highest tier in this place and which were located on one of the ten highest mountains in this mountain cluster and whose luminous mist covered all the ten highest mountains increased ,pulling on the very edge of his sanity and rationality. But since knew that something of enough power to induce a subconscious fear in him resided in the same location, he decided not to take chances.
Then, one time , just after hunting, he heard the sound of hooves gradually increase in his direction. Clearly, whatsoever it was was intentionally approaching this place . ' this must be speed based, pack hunting predators or mounted speed based beasts.After checking that his traps were still in place , he decided to keep his distance. He first cleared the place of any thing that would indicate a recent occupation before blending with and disappearing into the wild with his game . That turned out to be a very wise decision as what he saw next altered his views on how this world truly worked.
When the sounds became close enough for the assailants to come into view,he saw two members of his species - the Elts - riding on what appeared to have a distant distant resemblance with the horse . They came to a halt just outside his resting place and before the outermost trap he had set at the signal of the oldest one of the two. After looking around for a bit, the older-looking one of two lifted one hand , his left hand precisely and for a brief moment lightning erupted from the same hand wrecking the place Mike once was and disabling most of the traps he had set before going into hiding. At that moment a lot of thoughts swirled through Mike's head;
' I am not the only sentiment being here after all. Are these Elts natives if this place or were they forced into this world like me? And how come that guy could release lightning with his left hand . Did they have a secret method of doing similar things or is it a secret of this world that I am not aware of? Ah! I must not be discovered!'
" Brother I can swear that I saw a savage in a loin cloth sleeping here yesterday! "The younger one of the two said.
The older one of the two gently rode into Mike's makeshift lair. " By whom do you swear? Definitely not by Dan'-thran of the Sandy shores. Open your eyes recruit! All the traces of any sentient being taking residence here dates back to about a week ago. The dungs in the latrine are all dried up and are dessicated, the fire pit has been covered and with earth that clearly isn't freshly dug, there are no logs of wood here and the whole place has no distinct footprint. 'The older one stated with so much gravity that it frightened the younger one from what Mike observed.
' He is definitely referring to me! ' Mike realized.
"But I definitely saw someone here just yesterday!" The younger one tried to argue back.
" And where is that person now? You definitely made the wrong call. When we get back , immediately report yourself for punishment or I will prove to you that I have enough authority to throw you into our retinue of slaves inspite of your brother's protection...am I clear?" The younger one hurriedly nodded. Seeing that the younger one was frightened enough, the older one relented . " you may not know this , but the call of that hateful fragment is becoming increasingly difficult to bear especially for us at higher levels. While your brother , Zen and I have to grow powerful enough to make sure that we defeat the beast guarding the fragment when the time comes,we need enough slaves to feel out the abilities of the beast and the level it is currently at. And the job of gathering enough of them falls on the shoulders of you low levels . Do your job properly at least and we will have no problems.' he said as he rode off.