'I was right.'
Cullen sat on an outstretched branch just below the canopy, giving him a view of the sorrowful camp. In his hand, a new emerald compass pointed to the center.
'The compass that tracks Abominations told me that there was one in the middle of the camp, and this compass confirms that it's the core.'
A few hours ago, Cullen defeated another wolf fairly easily. While his strength hadn't increased much, Lucas's insightful training made him much more deadly in combat.
On top of that, he had the Eye Amulet. Looking at Cullen while he wore this necklace made both humans and Abominations uncomfortable. It affects their mind, tricking them into forgetting about Cullen's existence. While it wouldn't cause someone to lose a battle, it made it much more difficult to focus.
Once he killed the Wolf, he successfully created another compass that tracks The Island's core.
And it led him right back to the camp.
From this, Cullen realized a few things.
One, the core was most likely underground. The compasses pointed to one building in particular, but Cullen hadn't sensed anything wrong with it. The building was the tallest and one of the only ones made of steel, yet no one had entered or exited while Cullen was watching.
Secondly, there had to be another way to reach the core. This Grade-E produced Abominations from its core, and it wouldn't make sense for them to crawl out of the camp. He suspected that there were tunnels through which the Abominations traveled to the surface.
Lastly, someone had to know. Flora almost certainly didn't, and chances are that Lucas was also unaware. But there is no way that everyone would have overlooked The Island's core.
'This is disgusting.'
Cullen briskly dropped from the branch, landing on solid ground between the slithering vines.
With his collection of abilities, he doubted any Gifted or Abomination could find him. Using this, he planned to gather as many cores as possible while avoiding getting caught. This was all to prepare for his fight with The Island's core.
But, while Cullen was relatively uneducated on the world of Gifteds, he wasn't an idiot. He knew how impossible it was for someone like him to kill a Grade-E. However, considering the alternatives, Cullen was determined to try.
First, though, he needed to find the other entrance to the core.
Carefully moving through the unforgiving jungle, Cullen was much faster than before since Henry wasn't slowing them down. Since he didn't have to account for a regular human, he could use all of his Gifted strength to wade up and down trees and in between vines.
He went in circles around the camp, searching the ground for an opening. Maybe a concealed hole, still big enough for something like the Wolf to fit through. It didn't take long for him to find one.
A cave-like entrance about three meters wide led into the darkness right in front of him.
'This confirms it. Since it was this easy for me to find, others must have known about it too. But why would they hide this from the public, even other Gifted?'
Maybe The Island produces something? Maybe it's for research?
It didn't matter why.
The fact was that hundreds of people suffered because The Island was kept alive.
Since Cullen didn't want to encounter an Abomination, he moved away from the ominous hole and looked for more. Sure enough, he found four other entrances in different locations near the camp over the next hour.
But this time, something came out of it. A small animal Cullen knew very well.
'That damn monkey…'
Hidden in a prowling bush and wearing the Eye Amulet, the Ghost Monkey didn't notice Cullen. That was a huge advantage when fighting this particular Abomination.
'I need to kill it with a surprise attack before it goes intangible. Obviously, it can't stay untouchable forever, or it would choose to always be in that form. It may cause some form of stress, or it just has a time limit.'
Cullen gripped his icy dagger and stared at the Monkey, watching its every move.
Around a meter tall, this deadly beast was not something to take lightly. Its defined muscles screamed strength, yet still didn't show the extent of its power. When he fought it before, one strike was enough to send him flying. The tricky part was that it was also intelligent enough to utilize its ability in its fighting style.
Cullen would attack it, only to find his weapon and body phasing through the Abomination. Then, a different part of the monkey would launch a counterattack.
This was why Cullen wanted to avoid battle and defeat it quickly.
And he came up with an idea to do just that. Cullen only needed a way to tell when the Monkey turned in and out of tangibility.
Sadly, it never rained on The Island. In fact, the weather almost never changed. It was always sunny, with no clouds and the same amount of gentle wind. He could watch the rain to see if it went through its body or bounced off, but there was none of that, so he had to think of something else.
The Ghost Monkey had emerged for the first time in its life, experiencing the sun's warmth. It was thinking about… well, who knows what Abominations think about.
Looking around, it saw a lush jungle with vegetation sprawling over every inch. Vines dangled from the towering trees, but it knew not to touch them.
Then, a drop of warm blood fell from the sky, landing right on its head. It immediately looked up, yet saw nothing except a lush treeline. A sound of rustling leaves came from its left, then a branch broke from its right. Confused and desperate, it made its whole body intangible, unaware of where an attack may come from.
But this hurt.
Its muscles cramped, its eyes went blurry, and its mind wavered. This was the cost of activating its ability for too long.
The blood that was previously on its head passed through it, landing on the ground below.
A small, silver throwing knife flew from high in the trees, landing on the ground under the Monkey's foot. It looked as if it pierced the Abomination, yet its ability remained active.
The Monkey quickly moved its foot away from the knife, unable to hold its ability any longer. But as soon as it became tangible, it felt another drop of fresh blood hit its forehead.
Understanding its situation, the Abomination had no choice but to run. Pushing off its mighty legs, it jumped for an opening in the dense forest. Looking back, it tried to locate its enemy, yet was unable to find anyone.
However, it quickly learned where Cullen was when it turned back around and saw a dagger inches from its face.
***
Unfortunately for Cullen, the Ghost Monkey's core was located right in its head. So when he thrust his dagger into it, he had almost no time to focus on his ability before it shattered.
What ended up being left behind was a translucent armband, capable of turning everything beyond the user's shoulder intangible. Although it was only a part of his body, and it hurt like hell, it was still a valuable piece of equipment.
Activating it resulted in terrible cramps, which only worsened the longer his arm remained untouchable. After experimenting, Cullen could use it for around two seconds, with a thirty-second cooldown.
But two seconds was more than enough for what he would use it for.
Learning from the Ghost Monkey, Cullen figured he could trick someone into thinking they had cut off his arm, only to launch a devastating counter-attack.
Also, he could create more for his other limbs if he ever encountered another one.
Overall, it was a success. Yet, Cullen was nowhere near ready to challenge The Island. There were still many ideas he wanted to try, and many more Abominations to kill.
Considering that, Cullen made a deal with himself. He wouldn't fight The Island unless he faced that dreadful Abomination from before. After all, there would most likely be one near the core. If he couldn't even look at one of The Island's creations, there was no point in even trying to kill it.
'I also need to focus on strength training. We didn't do much since we traveled daily, but Lucas taught us how to work out. If I can consistently get stronger while fighting the Abominations, defeating The Island wouldn't be so impossible.'
Cullen still remembered Lucas's exact words.
'Eat a lot, then push your physical body to its limits! After you've recovered, keep doing that over and over again. We Gifted grow exponentially, so you'll only get stronger!'
The only problem was Cullen's location. He would be left vulnerable to the Abominations if he truly went all out in training, so he had to be careful.
After gathering himself, Cullen left the area and began his preparations.