Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Encounter
Looking around him, Alex only saw slate and rocks, with some shattered and broken stones laying around here and there.

Preserving as much energy as he could, Alex lit a small flame on his fingertip and shot it directly upwards, wanting to get a gauge on how big this cave was.

He saw the small flame fly higher and higher, until it finally hit a ceiling at about 100 metres and dissipated with a tiny explosion, providing a better image of its surroundings for just a moment.

Alex saw ominous and sharp stalactite hanging from the ceiling, looking sharper than any knife he had seen before.

If one of these things fell on him, he’d probably be dead instantly.

He produced yet another tiny flame, this time keeping it floating on his finger, and started walking in a random direction.

The surrounding 20 or so metres around him now had a vague orange-yellow light permeating throughout.

Alex continued walking and observing his surroundings, only using his original five senses to conserve energy.

His spatial awareness was by far his most useful sense, but it was also the most costly in terms of energy, which he had a scarce amount of in his situation.

He made sure to mark his tracks by leaving a trail of rocks behind himself in a line, making sure that he didn’t end up going in circles.

This mundane explore, observe, mark routine carried on for a whole 20 minutes before he finally reached a wall.

‘Around 3 kilometres from where I started.’

Alex made a note of the distance and changed his direction, this time following the wall.

‘Let’s go this way first.’

Since he had two directions to choose from, he just picked at random and started walking.

It didn’t take him too long to notice that the cave wall was just like any other cave — it had grooves, jagged edges and everything you’d expect from a rocky wall.

Except for one thing, it was unusually straight.

This whole time Alex had been walking in a straight line, with the wall of the cave not diverging off at any point.

‘This can’t be a naturally formed cave.’

Realising that this cave wasn’t normal, he kicked up his awareness and focus another level while he walked, making sure to check for any movements in his periphery.

He carried this routine on until…

“Grrrr-”

A low growl came from the darkness.

Immediately, Alex’s primal instincts kicked in when he heard the sounds of another living, breathing being.

‘Food!’

He couldn’t even see into the darkness to see the source of the sound, but he was so starved that he didn’t even perceive it as a threat.

Only something to finally provide him with some much needed energy.

Alex readied his stance to attack the source of the noise, focusing his senses to the max in the direction where the sound came from.

Remembering the small flame floating above his finger, he threw it in the direction the growl came from and waited.

And waited..

Until eventually, the shape of a wolf was revealed.

Alex’s hunger was getting the better of him, and kicked up another notch when he noticed the size of the beast.

It was at least big enough to keep him fed for a month!

But there was one thing he failed to notice in his rabid state.

The fact that this wolf seemed to be quite unordinary…

In fact, if Professor Will was there, he’d immediately have realised that this wolf was an E rank beast, a rank above Alex.

And it was a Mutant beast at that…

***

A few days prior, in an unknown area of the Primordial Expanse.

A swirling black portal opened up in the middle of a forest clearing, signifying the imminent arrival of an outsider.

Mira stepped out of the portal with a serious look on her face, ready to face any danger that might come to her the moment she stepped foot back in the Primordial Expanse.

‘What is this place…’

Just like Alex, she had been expecting to arrive back at the same desolate wasteland she had first appeared in during her first run in with the Primordial Expanse.

But the area she had just appeared in looked nothing like where she had exited during her last time here.

In fact, it looked like heaven when compared to where she was previously!

She took a few moments to get used to the fresh air and the higher level of energy in the atmosphere, and when she did, she felt a strange sense of freedom.

Back in her original location in the Primordial Expanse, she would be lucky if she could even keep herself fed and well rested, but in this place she just glanced at the forest around her and she could already see a few low rank beasts jutting about.

This place felt alien to her.

‘I wonder where Alex is right now.’

Her thoughts naturally drifted to Alex, which happened often in recent days.

She couldn’t help but think about how good it would be if they could both explore the Primordial Expanse together. But such a wish wasn’t even worth mentioning, as there were few people in the entire federation who actually had the chance to meet people they knew in their universe over in the Primordial Expanse due to how random people’s ‘spawn points’ are.

Putting her drifting thoughts aside, Mira took a further look at her surroundings and noticed that she was on the periphery of a forest. The forest seemed to stretch endlessly from left to right, while being able to spot towering mountains off into the distance.

‘I was hoping to make my way over to some civilised areas when I first arrived, but that plan has to be scrapped now that I’m in a completely new, unknown place.’

From the whispers and rumors she had heard about people’s second ventures into the Primordial Expanse, people’s portals always opened up right back where they left. This left quite some questions in Mira’s mind considering that she had never heard of anyone being transported to somewhere new like she had been.

Finished observing the forest, Mira turned around to see what else this place had in store for her, and what she saw left her utterly shocked.

For around 15 or so kilometres, there was nothing but a dirt filled wasteland with not a single sign of vegetation or life in sight.

Behind this wasteland, there were ruins.

Ruins of a city.